Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, July 11, Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) introduced the Smart Grid Advancement Act of 2013.  Congressman McNerney is the only renewable energy expert in Congress and sits on the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce.  A recent Department of Energy report emphasized that investment in Smart Grid projects has resulted in almost $7 billion in total economic output, benefitting a wide variety of industrial sectors and creating 47,000 jobs.

“In order to better utilize our energy resources, we must become more efficient and transition to lower carbon energy systems.  Making necessary investments in the nation’s Smart Grid is one way to facilitate this transition,” said Rep. McNerney.   “If we take action now, Smart Grid will create family-wage jobs, produce real economic benefits, increase energy efficiency, and allow for renewable energy technologies to be more easily integrated into our system. “

The Smart Grid Advancement Act will move forward the development of a more efficient electrical grid.  The bill tasks states and utility entities with establishing goals for reducing electrical use during peak times through the use of smart grid technologies.  Smart grid refers to systems or technologies that help reduce electrical use during times of peak consumption, such as in the afternoon.

“Increasing the use of Smart Grid technologies will help reduce use when demand for power is at its highest.   That, in turn, will help save consumers money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rep. McNerney.

The Smart Grid Advancement Act will also improve the Energy Star Program – an initiative that gives consumers the tools to purchase energy efficient and cost-saving appliances.  Currently, the program labels commonly used appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, with information about their energy efficiency.  The Smart Grid Advancement Act will better integrate smart grid features into the Energy Star Program.

On May 8^th of this year, Congressman McNerney spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about the importance of investing in Smart Grid technologies.  Video of the floor speech is available here.  Full text of the speech is available here.

“There is much to do in terms of policy initiatives that deliver greater benefits from smart grid, demand response and energy efficiency”, said Dan Delurey, Executive Director of the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG).  “DRSG is pleased to see Congressman McNerney moving to do just that via the bill he is introducing today.  His focus on reducing peak demand is particularly important, as a significant amount of the nation’s electricity costs come from only a few days per year when electricity demand can skyrocket and reliability can be threatened due to temperature or other factors.  All consumers pay that extra cost one way or the other, so reducing peak demand is therefore an important strategy that this bill will get people focused on.”

The Smart Grid Advancement Act is cosponsored by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Penn.).

By Allen Payton, Publisher

According to an article on Breitbart.com, on Monday, July 8, 2013, “the California State Senate passed legislation AB817 that would allow non-citizens to help voters when they cast their ballots. Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda sponsored the bill, which would permit as many as five permanent residents who entered the U.S. legally to help voters at polling places.”

According to the LegiScan website, State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, who represents Antioch, voted in favor or the bill and when the State Assembly passed the bill on May 23, Assemblyman Jim Frazier, who also represents Antioch, voted in favor, as well.

It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in American elections.

Now the bill goes back to the Assembly for a final vote, with the changes made by the Senate.

To track the bill and for more information on the bill, click here.

By Veronica Carr

The Fourth of July arrived with a bang this year in downtown Antioch. Although temperatures reached a sweltering 107 degrees, many residents still came out for a day of food, family, and fireworks.

The event took nine months to plan and was mainly made possible by donations of all kinds made to the newly formed Celebrate Antioch Foundation. The largest donation came from NRG Energy and County Supervisor Federal Glover, which paid for the fireworks show. However, other companies and residents made contributions that ranged in size from as low as $4 to hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

Organizers and residents said that without the generous donations, the fireworks show would not have been possible.

“Even just a few months ago, I was still unsure if Antioch would have fireworks,” Dominic Morales said. “When I heard that they had received large donations and would be able to do the fireworks, I was grateful. The fireworks show is as much a part of Antioch’s history as anything else.”

The day is not just the celebration of America’s independence, it’s also the anniversary of the 1851 July 4^th picnic at which the residents renamed the town from Smith’s Landing to Antioch. (A scene of that event can be seen in the mural on 2^nd Street).

The day’s events kicked off at 4 p.m. with the city’s annual Car Show, held in front of City Hall, again this year. Proud car owners showed off their classic cars and hot rods to a crowd of appreciative on-lookers. Participants received trophies and were encouraged to drive in the parade, later that day.

Then at 5 p.m. the entertainment by Frank Rundall and DJ Throttle began, the Food Courts opened, and activities in the Kid’s Zone took place in Waldie Plaza where children enjoyed the bounce houses and slides with the purchase of a $5 wristband. A magician performed magic tricks that involved juggling fire for an astounded crowd of parents and children.

The parade on 2^nd and 3^rd Streets began at 7 p.m. and lasted for about an hour and a half. This year’s participants included the local VFW, Boys and Girls Scout troops, the fire and police departments, and many other local organizations. Several elected officials such as Glover, who was this year’s Grand Marshall, Assemblyman Jim Frazier and Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Mary Rocha rode in cars, waving to the crowds and passing out miniature flags and candy.

The biggest round of applause came when military veterans and their families rode and marched through the streets, waving the American flag.

 

“Even though I’ve seen the parade countless times, it’s still nice to watch. You get to see all the floats and cars and people waving the American flag. It makes you feel very patriotic,” Paulina Ramirez said.

Around 9 p.m., residents began crowding the waterfront as the time for the fireworks to begin drew near. Many people had arrived early in the day to secure a good spot to view the fireworks while others arrived late and scrambled to find an available seat.

For Ray Allen, there seemed to be no better spot than the backyard of his house as it provided a perfect view of the waterfront.

“Every year, I invite my family over and we watch the fireworks from my backyard. It’s a great way to get the family together and we avoid the crowds,” he said.

Once the fireworks began, the crowd quieted and watched in awe as the night sky was lit up in shades of red, white, and blue with an accompanying soundtrack playing in the background. As the fireworks ended with a huge finale, and the crowds dispersed, many commented on their hopes to continue the tradition next year.

The Celebrate Antioch Foundation hopes that it will continue to receive donations from generous sponsors to continue the fireworks show. Not just for next year, but for years to come. For more information visit their website at www.AntiochJuly4th.com.

By James Ott

After a divisive vote and previous 4-0 votes in favor of both, Antioch leaders chose to only place one of two emergency tax measures, proposed to raise money for more police and code enforcement, on a special election ballot this November, during the city council meeting on Tuesday, June 25.

Although all of the council members initially supported both a half-cent sales tax measure and an annual business tax measure on landlords in the city, the council shot down the landlord tax after fears that political pressure from the California Apartment Association might cause one or both measures to fail when the public eventually votes.

The landlord business license tax was initially brought forth by a citizens group, known as the Friday Morning Breakfast Club who said they wanted to fix a loophole that currently allows out of town owners of multiple single family homes freedom to rake in rental money like a business without paying a business license tax like every other Antioch business.

They filed papers to gather signatures for an initiative. But, the council then agreed to take on the measure. Following meetings between members of the council, citizens group, city staff and representatives of the California Apartment Association, a compromise was reached.

Instead of a flat $20 per month per rental unit in Antioch, as it was written the tax measure would have charged owners of 1 to 25 single family rentals $240 per year, per home. The tax amount gradually decreased the more rentals one owns, so owning 26 to 50 rentals would have cost $120 per unit per year, 51 to 150 would cost $75 per unit per year and 150 rentals or more would be charged $50 per unit per year.

At the June 11 council meeting, the vote was 4-0 in favor of the landlord tax, with Councilman Gary Agopian absent. But the emergency measure required a unanimous vote of the city council, so, they had to wait until the June 25^th meeting to place it on the November ballot.

But by then, with the failed vote by the council, it was too late for the citizens group to gather the necessary signatures to put their measure on the November ballot.

Hans Ho, a member of the citizens group and the leader of the ballot measure effort was upset with the council’s vote.

“We have the Mayor making decisions based on the advice of his political consultant, instead of listening to the citizens of Antioch,” Ho said. “The Mayor told me Mary Jo Rossi, who ran his campaigns for council and mayor and is working on a fundraiser for Tiscareno, told him the landlord fee could hurt the sales tax measure.”

Another member of the citizens group, former Antioch Mayor Don Freitas said that the landlord tax would have been a permanent source of income for police, while the half-cent sales tax measure’s revenue would end after seven years if it is voted in by the public.

Theresa Karr, Executive Director of the California Apartment Association, (C.A.A.), said that while she and her organization support Antioch updating it’s nearly 50-year old tax code to tax landlords in the city, the proposed landlord business tax was unfair because it would charge the landlords, in the city, far more per year than most businesses would pay.

Freitas argued that the rental business is unique and brings in more people who all need city services so he said the extra cost is justified.

“The rental business brings in people that have a need of municipal services – it’s unlike other businesses in our city – it brings a burden,” said Freitas. “And so for 47 years everyone has paid [a business license tax] except them, – that’s what is inequitable.”

Karr said that the measure would unfairly single out a particular group of people and added that her organization was, “prepared to fight the measure” and had “already started a legal challenge.”

“If it had passed we definitely would have been prepared for a campaign to oppose it,” said Karr. “We probably would have done a grass roots campaign – once the tenants realized they could have the possibility of a rent increase they might vote no.”

The final council vote that downed the landlord tax measure was 2-3 after Council Members Monica Wilson and Gary Agopian voted for the landlord tax measure, while Mayor Wade Harper and Council Members Mary Rocha and Tony Tiscareno voted against it. Because the measure needed a unanimous vote to reach the ballot, even one dissenting vote would have stopped the measure in it’s tracks.

In addition to the opposition from the C.A.A., Mayor Harper said he felt the odds were already stacked against the landlord tax measure because the polling that the city did recently showed that it likely would not have received enough votes to become law.

“I really feel that the measure will not pass,” said Harper before submitting his dissenting vote. “I believe the landlord rental tax will fail and negatively impact the sales tax measure.”

He added that he felt the C.A.A. was “unbending” and did not try to work with the city and the citizens group hard enough to get a landlord tax that everyone could agree on.

Harper’s fear that opposition to the landlord tax might mean failure for the half-cent sales tax measure was echoed by Rocha who was a member of the city council in 2010 when a similar half-cent sales tax measure failed to garner enough public votes to pass.

“We’re facing a group of people [the C.A.A.] that could give us a problem with the half cent sales tax or a legal problem,” said Rocha. “We don’t need any opposition. We can’t take the chance to mess up again.”

Supporters like Agopian said that he felt there was enough public support for the landlord tax measure to pass and that the city should give both measures a chance because the money is sorely needed by Antioch.

Antioch City Manager Jim Jakel has repeatedly stated the city is in dire need of immediate income, especially if it is to hire police and code enforcement to combat a plague of crime and blight that has struck the city in recent years.

The two measures were originally proposed as a way to generate the $6.8 million dollars a year needed to fund the 126 sworn officers the city had prior to the recession. If it passes, the half-cent tax will only generate $4.2 to $4.7 million dollars, said Jakel, while the now defeated landlord tax could have generated at least an additional $2.5 million dollars a year if it had passed.

The Antioch City Council, the C.A.A. and the Friday Morning Breakfast Club have all stated their willingness to work together to give a future iteration of the landlord business tax a chance to appear on the November, 2014 ballot, where voters may decide the measure’s ultimate fate.

Publisher Allen Payton contributed to this story.

After nine months of planning and fundraising, the Celebrate Antioch Foundation presents Antioch’s July 4th, 2013 Celebration this Thursday in historic downtown Rivertown.

The festivities begin at 4 p.m. with a Car Show in the City Hall parking lot on 3rd Street. Then at 5 p.m. the two food courts will open, as will the Kids Zone in the Waldie Plaza parking lot off I Street and the entertainment by Frank Rundall will begin.

At 7 p.m. the Annual Antioch July 4th Parade will take place on 2nd Street. Then around 9:30 p.m. the fireworks show will begin, on the river.

Be sure to bring your blankets and lawn chairs and come early to get a good spot for viewing.

For more information or to make a donation by giving $4 for the 4th, visit www.AntiochJuly4th.com or email info@antiochjuly4th.com.

Eastbound on- and off-ramps to be closed

On June 28, 2013, the Highway 4 Widening Project will reach a major milestone when the northbound half of the new Loveridge Road overpass structure is completed and opened to traffic. Opening the northbound half of the new bridge will reduce congestion and improve traffic flow along Loveridge Road.

To prepare for this bridge opening, the eastbound on-ramp from Loveridge Road will be closed on Friday morning from 5:00 am to 11:59 am, and the eastbound off-ramp from Highway 4 to Loveridge Road will be closed from 5:00 am to 11:00 am. This week, the traffic signals will be modified, and new striping will be placed. When work is completed and the roadway is opened to traffic on Friday afternoon, northbound Loveridge Road traffic will use the new bridge during the next phase of construction, and southbound Loveridge Road traffic will have access to the new eastbound on-ramp to Highway 4. The next phase will include construction of the median barrier which divides northbound and southbound traffic on the Loveridge Road bridge.

The Highway 4 projects include improvements to the entire project corridor that will help revitalize eastern Contra Costa County. The projects expand Highway 4 from four to eight lanes between Loveridge Road and SR-160, and add a BART extension from Pittsburg to Antioch (eBART). The projects will also expand the highway from two to four lanes from Lone Tree Way to Sand Creek Road.

This will greatly improve transit accessibility for the region and help reduce traffic congestion and enhance the quality of life for the more than 250,000 residents of eastern Contra Costa County. The projects have been carefully staged to keep 130,000 vehicles per day moving as major construction and demolition work continue, and include over $1.3 billion in State, Federal, Regional Bridge Toll, and Contra Costa Measures C & J sales tax funds.

Caltrans and CCTA appreciate your patience as we work to improve the highways. For the most current information on all SR-4 corridor closures please visit our website at: http://4eastcounty.org.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) are widening State Route 4 (SR-4) through Pittsburg and Antioch. As part of this construction work, the contractor will be installing overhead sign structures that span westbound SR-4. In order to ensure crew and public safety during this work, the contractor will close all lanes of SR-4 in the westbound direction between Lone Tree Way/A Street and Somersville Road/Auto Center Drive on Thursday and Friday evenings, June 27 and 28 from 11:59 pm to 3:00 am.

The detour for this work will be as follows:

Westbound motorists will be directed off the highway at the Lone Tree Way/A Street exit, right on A Street, left on 18th Street, left on L Street, right on Sycamore Drive, left on Somersville Rd./Auto Center Drive and right onto the on-ramp to SR-4. For detour map, please see attachment.

The Highway 4 projects include improvements to the entire project corridor that will help revitalize eastern Contra Costa County. The projects expand Highway 4 from four to eight lanes between Loveridge Road and SR-160, and add a BART extension from Pittsburg to Antioch (eBART). The projects will also expand the highway from two to four lanes from Lone Tree Way to Sand Creek Road.

This will greatly improve transit accessibility for the region and help reduce traffic congestion and enhance the quality of life for the more than 250,000 residents of eastern Contra Costa County. The projects have been carefully staged to keep 130,000 vehicles per day moving as major construction and demolition work continue, and include over $1.3 billion in State, Federal, Regional Bridge Toll, and Contra Costa Measures C & J sales tax funds.

Caltrans and CCTA appreciate your patience as we work to improve the highways. For the most current information on all SR-4 corridor closures please visit our website at: http://4eastcounty.org.

By James Ott

Antioch leaders are hoping that it’s citizens will agree to increase the sales tax by a half-cent and to charge residential landlords in the city at least $20 a month for their rentals in order to fund a larger police force and improve code enforcement in the city.

At the May 28 city council meeting, city council members voted unanimously to approve key details of two proposed tax measures: a half-cent sales tax increase and a graduated license tax on landlords that own single family residential rentals in the city.

If the council makes the final approval at the June 11 council meeting, then the two measures will be placed on a special November 5 ballot and for the public to vote on. Although Antioch voters have previously rejected a sales tax increase, council members are more confident that clear ballot language and larger community outreach will mean that one or both measures have a good chance of passing this time around.

“This is an opportunity for us all to come together, putting aside any political differences or any agendas for the purpose of moving our community forward,” said Mayor Wade Harper. “For making our community a safer community.”

The half-cent sales tax measure will temporarily increase sales tax in the city by a half-cent for the next seven years and is expected to to generate at least $4.7 million a year in revenue. The measure was initially supposed to be for ten years but city council members voted for a seven year tax after the Antioch Chamber of Commerce said that they would support the measure in seven year form.

If it passes the vote, the tax measure will be subject to independent audits and annual budget reporting as well as a Citizens Oversight Committee composed of seven Antioch residents who will oversee it’s implementation.

The residential landlord tax will function as a type of business license tax and so it will not have a set expiration date and it does not apply to apartment owners who are currently taxed based on a conventional formula using their gross receipts.

Instead the new tax will be for landlords who own residential rental homes. Citizens like Hans Ho – a member of the Friday Morning Breakfast Club that has been backing the landlord tax – say that these residential landlords are effectively running a business and so they should have to pay a business tax like everyone else.

If the tax passes, anyone owning 1 to 25 rentals will pay $240 per unit per year. The tax amount gradually decreases the more rentals one owns. So owning 26 to 50 rentals will cost $120 per unit per year, 51 to 150 will cost $75 per unit per year and 150 rentals or more will be $50 per unit per year.

The Friday Morning Breakfast Club estimates that the landlord business license tax will generate about $2 million a year.

The money from one or both measures would go directly to hiring more police officers to fight crime and to fund code enforcement to fight blight – two of Antioch’s most pressing needs.

The city council is hoping that the voters see the same value in the two tax measures that they do.

“I think that everyone agrees that revenue needs to be brought into the city,” said Council Member Tony Tiscareno.

Staff reports say that the city has lost $13 million in revenue since 2007 and is expected to spend $3.6 million more than it is receiving in revenues in 2014.

The city council will make their final vote on whether to send the two measures to the November 5 ballot at their June 25 meeting, for an emergency item, which requires a unanimous vote by the council.