By James Ott

With Antioch’s crime rates out of control, city leaders are focused on creating a ballot measure to raise money for more Antioch police officers, however they still face several key issues at this stage in the process.

At the Tuesday, March 12 council meeting it was obvious from discussion by city council members, city staff and the public that there is still much to work to do before any ballot measure can be put up for vote including: what type of tax the measure will enact to raise the money, what kind of prohibitions will be placed on how it’s spent and when the tax money will stop being collected.

On top of this and other issues the council has to also deal with the fact that they can not legally advertise or support the tax measure to the public.

City Manager Jim Jakel likened putting forth the tax measure to a two lap marathon. The first lap involves the city in which they use public polls to determine what type of measure voters are likely to pass and then craft the measure and put it to a future vote.

The second lap is purely up to the voters said Jakel and the city must be hands off.

“The ‘second lap’… is a campaign that’s out in the community with the revenue measure that will pass or not based on the will of the people,” said Jakel. “And that’s something that’s a political campaign that the city cannot be a part of.”

For now, though the city is trying to zero in on what they can control.

They have in particular looked at three possible taxes for the measure: a sales tax – possibly similar to the half-cent sales tax measures recently passed by Concord and Pittsburg, a property tax on Antioch residents and a business tax that would tax landlords in Antioch for their rental properties.

The business tax on rentals seemed to be especially popular with the public at the city council’s recent crime prevention community forum, but council has said they want more info on the sales tax measure that was recently passed by Concord and Pittsburg to see if it would be valid for Antioch as well.

City council is being cautious this time around as they previously tried to pass their own half-cent sales tax, Measure P and voters shot it down with a 52 percent vote against it.

Because of Measure P there has been some argument over whether a new measure should earmark the money just for police and code enforcement or if it should be aloud to be used on other things such as bringing other Antioch employee’s back to a full 40-hour work week.

Some residents like Hanz Ho said that he and his wife agree that Measure P failed because it was unclear what the money could or would be used for and so if it is to pass it should only be for police uses.

“Measure P failed because there was no guarantee, no safeguard on how that money was to be spent,” said Ho.

Others like Matt Mason a representative for Employee’s Union Local One disagree and have argued that Antioch has many issues and that any money raised should be spent to restore the services of all types of public employee’s, not just police.

“It’s extremely important that whatever tax measure is put forth it be for general use and not just for certain sections of services,” said Mason. “So that all services can be restored because all community services are necessary and important.”

Council Member Gary Agopian said that the ballot measure will have to be simple and clear and should only focus on hiring police and code enforcement.

“There’s something to keep in mind if we’re thinking about additions,” said Agopian. “The priority for us clearly has to be … to secure the city to create a safe city for everyone. If we get sidetracked by anything else we run the risk of causing opposition and losing focus.”

Agopian and other city council members say they are committed to increasing Antioch’s Police force but critically they need the public’s support and tax revenue to do so.

Time will tell if they gain the public’s support for a tax measure. For now the council and city staff continue to research the matter and say they are committed to creating a citizen’s oversight committee to oversee the process and help insure it’s success.

The City of Antioch is encouraging residents and businesses to participate in Earth Hour 2013 by turning off their lights on Saturday, March 23rd from 8:30 – 9:30 p.m. This simple action is an easy way to “think globally and act locally,” as well as acknowledge and celebrate the City’s commitment to protecting the planet. The City of Antioch is using this year’s event to kick off a ‘lights out at night’ program for City Hall.

The City of Antioch is one of 34 nationally recognized cities to participate in the “Earth Hour City Challenge.” With more than 70% of the world’s CO2 emissions generated by cities, the Earth Hour City Challenge was created to mobilize action and support from cities in the global transition towards a 100% renewable future. It also aims to stimulate the development and dissemination of best practices for climate mitigation and adaptation.

By participating in the Earth Hour City Challenge, the City of Antioch is building on its Climate Action Plan, adopted in May 2011, and joining progressive cities across the globe to raise climate awareness and set an example that will inspire similar actions through the U.S. To find out more about the City’s Climate Action Plan, please visit:

www.antiochclimateaction.org

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 when 2.2 million people took a stand against climate change by turning off their lights in homes and businesses. But that was only the start, and in 2011, over 1.8 billion people in 135 countries across every continent officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet.

To learn more, visit www.earthhour.org for more information on the City of Antioch’s environmental programs visit www.ci.antioch.ca.us/environment, call the Environmental Resource Line at 925-779-6137 or “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ecoantioch.

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) announces the launch of the 2013 Congressional Art Competition. The competition is part of the nationwide annual Congressional Art Competition intended to showcase the artistic talents and abilities of students all across the country.

“I walk past the impressive artwork every day that I am in the U.S. Capitol.  The talent demonstrated by our young artists is remarkable and it is my honor to display their work in all of my offices,” said Congressman McNerney.

Every year, Members of Congress are welcome to hold their own competition in their home districts.  Then, the winning artwork from each district is then displayed in a busy corridor that leads to the U.S. Capitol, used daily by Members of Congress and visitors to Washington, D.C.  In addition, the grand prize winner from the 9^th District will be flown with a guest to Washington, D.C. to attend an awards ceremony in June.

The second, third and fourth place winners will also have their work displayed in one of Congressman McNerney’s three offices, located in Washington, D.C., Stockton and Antioch.  A panel of judges will select the winning entries and their decision will be announced at a special ceremony and exhibit.  

There will be a public viewing of all submissions and an Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 27, 2013, from 1-3 pm at the Family Resource & Referral Podesto Teen Impact Center, located at 725 N. El Dorado Street in Stockton.

Rules for Submissions:

The contest is open to all high school-aged students who reside in the 9^th District.  Artwork is due by 5 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013 and can be submitted at either of Congressman McNerney’s district offices.  The address for the Stockton office is 2222 Grand Canal Blvd., Suite 7, and the address for the Antioch office is 4703 Lone Tree Way. 

Guidelines for the Congressional Art Competition include the following:

• Frames are not required on any submission.

• Artwork must be two-dimensional.

• Each piece can be no larger than 28” x 28” x 4” (28 inches high, 28 inches wide, and 4 inches deep), including the frame on the winning piece.

• Artwork cannot weigh more than 15 lbs.

• Acceptable media for artwork are as follows:

  • Paintings: oil, acrylics, watercolor, etc.

  • Drawings: pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, markers

  • Collage

  • Prints: lithographs, silkscreen, block prints

  • Mixed Media: use of more than two medias such as pencil, ink, watercolor, etc.

  • Computer-Generated Art

  • Photography

Students and teachers interested in the Congressional Art Competition should contact Cheri Clasen in Rep. McNerney’s Stockton office at (209) 476-8552 for further guidelines and information.

 

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) introduced the Solar Energy Deployment Act of 2013 to provide funding for state and local governments to install solar energy systems on rooftops and above parking structures.

“We need to be focused on working towards a clean energy future. By making funding available for solar energy, we can save money throughout California,” said Rep. McNerney.

The Solar Energy Deployment Act allows the U.S. Secretary of Energy to award competitive grants to state and local governments for installing solar equipment on rooftops and above parking structures. Recipients of the funds could design and install solar energy systems over other structures they own.

The secretary would have the authority to take into consideration several factors in deciding who would receive the grants, including:

– Speed with which solar systems can be deployed

– Total amount of solar energy deployed

– The financial need of the state or local government

– The use of best practices to ensure maximum efficiency of deployed systems

– Whether or not the materials to be used are manufactured in the U.S. and whether their components are manufactured in the U.S.

“In today’s economy, the green energy sector has been a consistent jobs creator. Applying American ingenuity to our environmental and economic challenges will result in cost savings for all Californians. Solar initiatives will save California in electrical costs and put people to work building solar systems.  Putting emphasis on American-manufactured products will create family wage jobs that are so critical to stabilizing our economy,” said Rep. McNerney.

When asked from where the funding would come to pay for the legislation, McNerney’s Deputy Chief of Staff Lauren Smith stated “It remains to be determined, as nothing gets funded until the bill passes and is signed into law, and it would then be up to the appropriators to determine exactly where the money would come from.”

Then in response to why McNerney believes it is the responsibility of the federal government to fund state and local programs, such as this, she responded, “the Congressman sees value in the federal government partnering with state and local folks on initiatives like these that improve the community, create local jobs, and grow the economy.”

McNerney represents most of Antioch, as part of the 9^th Congressional District in the House of Representatives.

The Central Coast Wine Competition has announced that the Contra Costa Fair will be joining the family of California fairs that encompass the competition. “We are thrilled to add one more location for the award winning wines to be displayed, noted Chief Judge Bob Foster. “Contra Costa County winemakers are making some superb wines from the grapes grown in the region. Our panel of judges are anxious to evaluate wines from another segment of the Central Coast AVA.”

The Central Coast Wine Competition is the largest evaluation event for wines produced exclusively on California’s Central Coast and is hosted by five Central Coast fairs: the California Mid-State Fair, Santa Barbara County Fair, Monterey County Fair, Ventura County Fair, San Benito County Fair and the Grand National in San Francisco. With the addition of Contra Costa County, the region of grape growing will expand slightly outside the Central Coast AVA to include all parts of the county.

“Fairs were built on the foundation of agriculture and education”, stated Robert Williamson, CEO Contra Costa County Fair. “We are excited to add this key agriculture component to our fair program and hope to expand the locally grown awareness of our area.”

The 2013 competition features an internationally renowned panel of judges including wine writers, winemakers, sommeliers and wine buyers. New this year, all Gold Medal wines will receive a point score, as well as, the medal award. The competition staff strongly encourages wineries to take advantage of the opportunity to enter the competition online at http://cmsfw.fairmanager.com/. The entry book, which details the entry classes and guidelines, can be found at the California Mid-State Fair webpage or the CCWC blog at http://centralcoastwinecomp.com.

For a complete list of judges, further information regarding the competition and to submit online entries, please refer to the competition’s blog at www.centralcoastwinecomp.com. Entries will be accepted through May 24, 2013.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, today, the California “Supreme Court gave Walmart the go-ahead Wednesday to expand its Antioch store into a ‘supercenter’ by adding a grocery section, rejecting a challenge by environmentalists and labor groups.”

For the complete story, click here.

By James Ott

An outpouring of support from passionate parents and students may have prevented the firing of an alternative education teacher in Antioch.

At the February 27 Antioch School Board meeting district staff recommended laying off at least 14 teachers as part of the school district’s annual review of projected student enrollment and corresponding staffing levels.

The list of potential firings included one teacher from Antioch’s E.N.C.O.R.E., (Educating and Nurturing with Options, Resources and Education) alternative teaching program.

But thanks to a fervent outcry from concerned parents and students, not only will that teacher likely keep her job, but the school board decided to look into expanding the successful program.

E.N.C.O.R.E. is a kindergarten through eighth-grade program that allows home schooled children to still have the benefits of learning part time in a classroom.

It is taught by teachers Leslie McKinnon, Irene McLaughlin, Ericka Spires and Cynthia Schroeder who was the teacher expected to lose her job if the district went through with the process.

Person after person spoke up at the meeting to say that all of E.N.C.O.R.E.’s teachers including “Miss Cynthia” as many of her students and their parents refer to her, are invaluable to E.N.C.O.R.E.

Parents and teachers argued that E.N.C.O.R.E.’s unique structure in which the same 100-125 students a year stay with the same teacher and fellow students as they move from kindergarten through eighth-grade cannot handle such a layoff.

Besides they said, E.N.C.O.R.E. is very successful program that consistently produces high grades and test scores and consistently has had to put interested families on a waiting list for most of it’s 20-year existence. This year there are already 12 families waiting for room to put their children into E.N.C.O.R.E.

“You have the best alternative education program in the Bay Area,” claimed one parent. “I know because I did the research and I chose to come here.”

Every parent who spoke agreed with that sentiment, many of them moving from other parts of the Bay Area just to enroll their kids. One father commutes from the Dublin/Livermore area just to get his kids into E.N.C.O.R.E.

Parents and students raved about the teachers and special classes that allow their home-schooled students socialization with other kids as well as a sound education.

“I went to E.N.C.O.R.E. as a very shy student that didn’t know how to go through public school and I came out a performer,” said former student Rayanne Baird.

Baird is now pursuing acting at Diablo Valley College.

There were similar stories of students that not only went to E.N.C.O.R.E. and got a good education, but several said the lives of these students were positively changed.

One mother recounted how her son was an angry trouble maker who had below average or failing grades and couldn’t handle public school. After 9-years at E.N.C.O.R.E. he consistently makes honor roll at his high school and is a well adjusted, happy young man.

Over and over parents and students credited E.N.C.O.R.E.’s success directly to it’s four teachers, describing them as “fabulous,” “wonderful,” and amazing.

Former students recounted how they dissected cow eyes and sequenced DNA in science labs, took field trips to galleries to appreciate art, made Chinese bamboo painting and learned to write critical thinking essays.

Several years ago a group of students at E.N.C.O.R.E. even wrote, directed, edited and starred in a feature film called “Around the World in 180 days.” The film was shone at the former Brenden Theaters in Pittsburg.

After all of the praise, many were left wondering why the district was even considering laying off any teacher from such a successful program that even has a positive cash flow for the district due to a lack of student abences.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the district Keith Rogenski said that all of the potential layoffs were being looked at because of lower enrollment projections for the coming school year.

Those projections for each school he said, determined that certain teachers may not have enough students to teach and therefore may not be needed.

At the meeting however, Rogenski did stress that all of the projections and thus the potential layoffs were just preliminary estimates that the district is required to make each year by March 15.

He said the General Fund savings for those 14 potential layoffs could be as high as $700,000 for the 2013-2014 school year.

“This action is preliminary not an end all be all, permanent action,” he said.

The board, Rogenski said, is free to make changes to any of the teacher positions on the list in the coming months.

The decision to potentially fire an E.N.C.O.R.E. teacher seemed to come from the fact that the program only had about 75 students at the time the district was making their list.

Schroeder said that those figures are inaccurate and misleading because, like many schools their enrollment goes up after several weeks into the school year.

“The district stated that our attendance goal is 100 students – we have always met that,” she said. “Our new principal said that it was actually 106 so we met that – we are currently at 109 students.”

In the end the school board members seemed to unanimously agree that E.N.C.O.R.E. is meeting it’s attendance goals and it’s academic goals and should not be losing a teacher. In fact, they voted 4 to 1, (with Gary Hack against), to put off the preliminary vote on any of the layoffs in question until the next board meeting so that they can get staff to research how to grow the E.N.C.O.R.E. program.

“My vision 20 years ago was for E.N.C.O.R.E. to be much bigger,” said Board member Claire Smith, who helped found E.N.C.O.R.E. “I know you fit the needs of a lot of students.”

Board members seemed so impressed by the praise of students, teachers and parents that they said E.N.C.O.R.E. in many ways should be a model for the whole school district.

“You’re the dream for all of us,” said Board President Joy Motts. “[E.N.C.O.R.E.] is how we envision public education.”

The next school board meeting is on March 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the School Services Building at 510 G. Street.

Staffing at 1995 levels

By James Ott

In the face of surging crime rates and stagnant city income levels, Antioch will look into a possible tax measure that would provide money for more police.

Antioch currently has 88 sworn officers and has funding for up to 102 of them, but according to city Police Chief Allan Cantando, the city needs to have at least 126 officers just to be at the staffing levels the city was at before a free-falling economy nearly bankrupt Antioch.

City council members have long agreed with Cantando that the city needs more police and at the February 26^th Council meeting they discussed putting a tax measure up for vote to pay for them.

City Manager Jim Jakel said that the city council would need a tax to pay for the police because the city has seen, “massive declines in revenue,” including a decrease of over $13 million dollars since 2006-2007.

The issue of a tax is still at the very early stages of development, said Jakel and the city still has a lot of research to do before they can decide such things as the type of tax they want, the tax amount and how long the tax will remain in effect.

Making the process especially tricky is the fact that the city has to legally limit it’s involvement in the process while still gaining enough support to win the 2/3 vote needed to approve the item, added Jakel.

“We can’t run the campaign yet we’re intimately involved,” he said. “We can do things like very limited information gathering but can’t legally do ad campaigning.”

City council members agreed that they would need to wait until at least the November 2013 elections to place a tax measure on the ballot because they want time to do proper public outreach including community forums and public polls on the subject.

The city will look at three different tax possibilities: a sales tax, a parcel tax or a business tax. The sales tax would likely be either a quarter, half or full cent sales tax, while the parcel tax numbers are yet to be determined, according to Jakel.

Mayor Wade Harper suggested that one idea for the business tax could be to tax renters in the city.

“As far as the business license tax – there are people that own several different homes in Antioch and they’re basically running it as a business and they’re not paying a tax so we need to address that,” said Harper.

Charging $200 to $250 annually to the owners of the 11,000 plus rental properties in the city has been suggested by the public.

Jakel said that he will put together estimates for each of the three tax possibilities, including a low, medium and high tax amount as well as an estimate of how much each different tax measure might generate.

Council member Gary Agopian said that he liked the half-cent sales tax measure that was recently passed by Pittsburg and would like Antioch to take a look at it as a possible model for tax income.

“I like the Pittsburg model,” said Agopian. “A half cent sales tax for five years, then it decreases to a quarter cent sales tax for the final five years and then it ends. What would that generate for us?”

Regardless of the type of tax the city decides on, all members of the council agreed that they need a poll to find out what the citizens want and to judge the public’s receptiveness for the possible tax measures.

“I want to hear from the average voter that doesn’t necessarily come to council meetings,” said council member Monica Wilson.

Because the city cannot legally campaign for such a measure, it is very important that the city make sure they have the support of Antioch voters before they spend time and money to place a tax on the ballot, said council.

“We need broad community support,” said Agopian. “Does labor support it, does business support it, does the chamber [of commerce], support it, does the average citizen support it?”

The cost of the election Jakel said would be upwards of $250,000, not including research, polling and possibly hiring an outside firm to help with that information gathering.

City staff will gather information, make cost estimates and meet with City Council on March 28 to discuss the tax measure and try to iron out some of the many issues it faces.