Dear Editor:

It’s time to remember all those “Out of Box” and “Silver Bullets” ideas that didn’t work out last election and really just concentrate on the values and traditions already in the box. We need to consider how effective our district is by:

1. Asking are the programs currently ongoing effective for the students?

2. Are our schools being maintained in a clean and healthy environment for our students?

3. Are the teachers and staff motivated and in turn motivating our students to reach higher goals or are some just riding out the last years before retirement?

4. Is the administration prepared with back-up staff members who at a moment’s notice take the place of an ill or incapacitated key figure to keep the district going?

Answers to these questions will not make everyone happy or comfortable but, our students deserve the best fighting chance in our current economy.

Jack Yeager

Candidate for Antioch’s Board of Education

September 5, 2012

Dear Editor:

The new EB ramp at Loveridge to Route 4 might open today (or soon). I hope to see a reduction in merging congestion at Loveridge EB in the PM rush. If this occurs, I would be inclined to give a thumbs up to the design and construction team to be able to reduce congestion during the construction.

This has happened with the EB on ramp at Somerville – it is now longer and allows a more controlled merge.

If this effort gets noticed, they might even do more to improve the commute.

Lloyd Young

Dear Editor:

This is an open letter to parents of school children in Antioch.

School will begin on August 15 and August 22 or after Labor Day and the summer vacation will come to a semi-official end. Students will experience some difficulty adjusting to school and will have different responses depending on their age. Elementary school students will be happy to begin school because they are in the exploratory stage of their lives and they are excited to go to school and participate and hang out with their friends. Middle school students are at the beginning of their independence and will not be so thrilled to return to school as they will have to be reminded about the rules all over again. High school students will vary on their excitement to return to school based on the type of summer that they had working, hanging out with friends, traveling with friends and relatives, or just hanging around the house enjoying their free time. Of course, for those who will return to school as “seniors”, they will be excited to begin the year as it holds much fun and promise.

Here are some tips to follow to help your child adjust to the school schedule. Approximately 1 week to 3 days before school, parents should begin reminding their students that their schedule at home will change. Establishing a regular family routine will make it easy on the entire family as well as ease the stress on the daily routine of work and school. Here are my recommendations:

Parents should think about what they need at home for their sanity (smile) and be clear about rules and expectations before talking to their children about the back to school routine. Once this is determined, parents can have open discussions at the dinner table regarding the routine and ask their children for their input.

School night rules should be discussed approximately 1.5 weeks before school or a week after school begins, as children will have to accept the idea that they are going to lose some of the freedom that they had during the summer. This means no late night TV watching, the expected schedule for completing homework, and any other household routine that the parent is expecting from the child.

Students should begin going to bed around the time they would have to go to bed on a school night. No more late nights for elementary and middle school students.

High school students should be reminded about school, and given the chance to correct their own bedtime schedule before parents step in and do it. This will give them a chance to embrace their independence in a responsible manner.

Parents should talk to their children about expected behavior in school during the day as it relates to mom or dads availability (or not) due to working full time.

Parents should begin updating all emergency contacts and placing them in an accessible place in the home. Parents should discuss if their child will have a cell phone if the child is in elementary or middle school and should discuss the purpose of the cell phone (.i.e. emergency use only). Safety rules and expectations should also be discussed especially if the child will walk, skate, ride their bike, ride with a friend etc. to school. If the child will walk to school, parents can begin practicing the walk 2

with their child so the expected route will be familiar to the child. I recommend that children not walk to school unless an adult can be with the child. If the parents cannot walk them, perhaps, a grandparent or a retired neighbor, another stay at home parent, etc. could walk them to school.

Once school begin, if there is a routine in place, it can be changed to consider “quality time” in the evening as well as the time parents will set aside to help the student with homework or any school concerns the student might have.

Please remember that these are my recommendations and I recognize that as a family there may already be a regular routine in place. Children adjust better to returning to school when parents explain their expectations and then follow the expectations with consistency. Feel free to contact me about this article at DebraVinsonSchoolBoard2012@comcast.net.

Debra Vinson

Candidate for Antioch School Board Trustee

Even though Antioch has 30 fewer officers than approved – and will still be down 25 officers after the five are hired using the three-year, $1.5 million federal grant – based on the inability of the City’s budget to afford them, the Council still chose to not give the public the opportunity to vote for a parcel tax for police in November.

Instead, Councilman Kalinowski opposed holding a special meeting, even though it was necessary to move the matter forward. What’s worse is that Mayor Pro Tem Harper also opposed the meeting.

Here’s the most interesting and frustrating part. At the June 26th council meeting, Kalinowski asked staff to put a police tax on the agenda for a July meeting and even provided some ballot language, as well. Click here for the details.

You’d think Kalinowski and Harper – who are both sworn peace officers – would do everything they could to make sure Antioch has the additional police we need to make our city safe.

But, Harper who is now running for Mayor against Councilman Gary Agopian (who voluntarily took the lead on the tax effort), conveniently avoided taking a stand on a tax increase. Then he said he couldn’t have made the meeting, anyway? How does he plan to pay for those much needed cops?

They all sure got that last-minute, rotated Mayor measure done in time for this year’s June ballot. Yet, they’ve had two years to get this done – since Measure P, the half-cent sales tax failed in 2010 – and still couldn’t do it?

The Antioch City Council made the right decision when it decided against a proposal by Councilman Gary Agopian, on behalf of the Citizens for a Safe Antioch, not to place a parcel tax for additional Police Department funding on the November ballot One wonders, however, if Council would have made the same decision if there weren’t three open seats for City Council, including the mayor’s seat or if they’re just holding out hope for the Legislature to lower the threshold for public safety taxes from a two thirds approval to 55% approval.

The Police Department is currently operating with 34 less sworn officers than authorized. However, the city is planning to hire back 5 officers to fill positions lost through attrition and 5 more with $1.5 million dollars in federal grant money. ( This month the chief informed council he’s currently in the process of adding two additional cops, expanding the reserve officer program, replacing 2 recently retired K-9s and adding one additional K-9.)

Regrettably, the city laid off all it’s non-sworn community service officers (CSOs) in 2009. Hiring back a number of CSOs, who make considerably less than sworn police officers, would free up more officers to get back on the street. (The cost of funding the base salary and benefits of a Police Officer at Step C is approximately $132,000 a year, the cost of a CSO at Step 3 is approximately $84,000 a year. (The City recently tried to hire 3 people, but each one declined.)

In recent contract negotiations APOA agreed to give up raises that had been deferred since 2009, received a 6% raise, agreed to contribute 9% instead of the previous 3% to their PERS retirement and accepted an agreement giving them a 3% salary increase in 2013 and a 4% hike in September 2013. (I fail to comprehend, however, why Council gifted them with two additional annual holidays! )

Interesting to note, a recent staff report to Council from Human Resources stated that, as per the city’s recently approved Memorandum of Understanding with APOA, effective September 1, 2012, the City will report the employee paid member contribution to PERS as special compensation to the employee’s salary. Could it be that the intent to treat the contribution as a salary addition is to jack up their pensions when they retire

I am announcing my candidacy for Antioch City Council 2012.

I have been a resident of this diverse Antioch community for over eight years and I truly enjoy living in this City. Antioch has become a stagnant City. We need leadership who has the vision for beneficial growth, thinks outside the box, is transparent and understands the complexities of fiscal responsibility. I bring new ideas, commitment, intensity, integrity, accountability and a strong desire to take on new challenges and find long-term solutions. I will represent all City residents without bias and will involve the community in the decision-making process.

I have a degree in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with over 31 years of management experience working for Governmental Agencies. I have worked with various community groups, City Commissions and Boards, City Council and the Mayor’s Office. I have served on my HOA Board for four years and two years as the President. My wife and I were members of United Citizens for Better Neighborhoods (UCBN) since its inception.

My humble priority is to serve the citizens of the City of Antioch with dedication, integrity, fairness, transparency and full accountability. I encourage you to get to know me better by visiting my website www.noelpinto.com and communicate with me at noel@noelpinto.com. It is my privilege to have this opportunity to serve you.

Noel Pinto

Antioch

In November 2010 Contra Costa Fire Chief Louder told the Board of Supervisors the district would deplete its reserves by the next fiscal year because it had used $8.7 million in reserves, deferred $4M in workers’ comp to patch its budget hole and all possible cutbacks and consolidation had occurred, leaving only personnel cuts. (Salaries and benefits accounted for more than 85% of the departments budget.) He told Supervisors that as many as 8 fire stations could close if voters rejected a parcel tax in 2011.

In June 2011 Supervisor Goia announced that the Contra Costa County Professional Firefighters Local 1220 voted to save the County $6.2 million per year by approving an amendment to their contract that would cut their salaries by 5%, waive the right to a previously negotiated 5% salary increase, extend their contract through 2014 and agree to discussion of pension benefits in summer 2012. The agreement would allow the district to maintain the same level of high service and prevent layoffs.

What happened? Why are residents again being threatened with station closures and layoffs unless we approve a parcel tax? Why is the Contra Costa County Fire Chief now stating that, without a parcel tax in November 2012, he’ll have to shut down 6 of the district’s 28 fire stations and lose 63 firefighters

Yup folks, on June 27th Chief Daryl Louder presented a report to the Contra Costa County Fire Board of Directors, aka the CCC Board of Supervisors, entitled “Report on Tiered Tax Rate Structure for a Special Tax Measure to be Placed on the November 6th Ballot“.

The Board then provided direction to the Fire Chief on the special tax provisions, including a tax amount of $75 annually, a sunset provision of seven years, and rate structure tiered by property type. July 31, 2012 was fixed as the hearing date to consider adoption of a resolution calling for a special election on 11/6/12 and adoption of a special tax ordinance to be submitted to voters on 11/6/12. (No mention was made as to inclusion of a senior citizen exemption to the parcel tax.)

As much as I value safety personnel such as firefighters and police, I’m not about to approve additional taxes which would put me in the poor house. Certainly not when they’re receiving generous pay and benefits, overtime, and a 3% at age 50 retirement package. (The County Administrator stated in April that Con Fire’s benefits cost is 103% of salary.)

Firefighters make up 40% (268 out of 645) of the Contra Costa County‘s $100,000 Pension Club, compromised of those retirees/beneficiaries of Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association (CCCERA) who are receiving pensions of $100,000 or more. In fact, Contra Costa Consolidated Fire Protection District (ConFire) firefighters fill 180 of the Club membership slots. CCCERA retirees were granted a 3% cost of living adjustment on April 1, 2012.

Dear Editor,

Former Councilman Allen Payton left a few easy assumptions out of his article. Primarily the relationship of the City Clerk to the public, which was never discussed by the Council while they only looked at eliminating one more position. That roll is of a neutral, trusted fiduciary. The Clerk not only registers people to vote, regardless of party, accepts and files all candidate papers, submits ballot issues to the county elections board, send all public notices, prepare agendas and vital to our system of freedom, provide the public with records and document when requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Even when public requests for information appears to be nothing more than political harassment, the Clerk is still sworn to preform her duties without the influence of Councilmembers, a strong Mayor or a City Manager. The elected Clerk cannot be fired by a City Manager that has already eliminated every other department head in the City.

What this Council has done in an attempt to eliminate the position has been to reduce the salary of an elected position to a paltry amount and instruct that the Clerk herself is to work only one day a week. What better way to reduce or even eliminate the Clerks relationship with the public.

As to the Councils refusal to rename “L” Street, that has been proposed for many years, and even though I might disagree on the renaming of ‘A’ and 2^nd Streets, you missed the one that would have cost “nothing”. Those of us that have been heavily involved in the History of this community and the republishing of the Diary of Rev. Williams Wiggin Smith, ask that Roger’s Point be restored back to the original name of “Smith’s Point” as it had been the long standing homestead of Smith until his death.

As there is currently no signage, other than “Keep Out”, and the property and area are not currently being developed, no signage would have been required at this time and no real cost associated with changing the name. From our records the property was not identified as Roger’s Point until the Rogers family (local insurance agent) took over in mid century.

Although we felt this was a non issue and we had council support, much to our surprise the Mayor felt he needed to ascertain the feeling of the Roger’s family. All the members of the Roger’s family that ever lived there, including their daughter Virginia Rogers Calessesi, have passed away.

This simple issue has exposed this Councils inability to advocate for issues brought from the public. On another issue one councilmember expressed to me that the council believed they needed to wait for the election to allow new council members to have input on an important issue. This was stated to me last March.

I don’t know about the rest of the public but I don’t vote and elect Councilmembers so they can wait 2 years to give the next group input. I elect people to make decisions now, while they are in office. Those that fail to advocate for issues, weather I agree with them or not, and those that fail to make the decisions they were elected to make, will not have my vote in the future.

Elizabeth Rimbault,

Former Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember

Antioch