City Council Meeting May 16, 2011

0:00:00I'm mayor Chang here thank you and now for the Pledge of Allegiance led by council member benicini please join me I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and

0:00:23justice for all thank you at this point or can have staff Communications staff Council Communications any announcements from staff yes I just mayor members of the council I just have one um next council meeting will be presenting the proposed budget for next fiscal year

0:00:46but I just wanted to bring to your attention if you didn't see any of uh the emails that may have gone out today that today was the governor's May revise and similar to the first round the proposal to eliminate Redevelopment is still in there um and again I think the police chief a

0:01:07few meetings ago talked about some of the exposure on public safety and particularly police money related to booking fees and supplemental law enforcement grants and those two items total about 450 000 of exposure uh to the city and there they hinge largely on um money being backfilled which will all

0:01:28hinge on whether or not the governor's proposal is accepted so I just wanted to point out um that the fight to protect local government revenues is still ongoing and still very prominent and the May revise a lot of the things we had hoped not to see you know didn't materialize so I just wanted

0:01:47to make sure you all were aware that the state budget is still looming and still may have a really significant impact on our budget thank you for that unfortunate news any other announcements from Steph oh staff at this point okay Council yes go ahead okay um I want to mention that on May the 4th

0:02:11I attended the volunteer appreciation dinner at for the open house Senior Center uh which was held at the community center and it was to express appreciation to the many many many volunteers that provide the services in the senior center um and it was very well attended and um

0:02:35if you ever get a chance I recommend going then I just want to remind people again that the West Contra Costa Transportation advisory committee is hosting some Community workshops to discuss ways to improve access to public transit in West County and the one here

0:02:55in El Cerrito will be held on Tuesday May 24th at 6 PM right here in the council chambers and the workshop will cover conditions around West County BART stations and other Transit hubs pedestrian and bicycle needs parking employers shut employer shuttles and other ways to promote alternatives to

0:03:18driving and signage and so I hope if you're interested in any of those topics that you will come here then let's see then I want to also remind people that we're going to have a June unwaste recycling event on June fourth and 5th from 9 00 A.M to 3 P.M and it will be held again at

0:03:42the DMV and that's where you can recycle electronics appliances clothes textiles mattresses and a number of additional things for more information you can con you can look on our website at www.ec environment.org and um I guess I will leave it at that for now okay

0:04:13I've got a few announcements uh first I'd like to start with the crime prevention committee uh it's never too early to start planning for National Night Out And so that is Tuesday August 2nd uh crime prevention committee is taking or seeking people that will host

0:04:30uh parties for that evening and the first place you'll be able to start signing up through other than through our website is on July 4th the crime prevention committee will have a booth at the July 4th fair so hopefully you can find them there and and participate

0:04:49in the National Night Out through that um I also want to acknowledge that last week last Monday on May 9th we had a groundbreaking up at the El Cerrito recycling center and and the entire Council was there and it was a fantastic event and and so I just want to make

0:05:08sure that the public knew that that the construction has started on the recycling center and we are looking forward to having a new recycling center in the new year um also East Bay Regional uh East Bay Municipal utility district is holding a public hearing on their new rates this

0:05:27public hearing is Tuesday June 14th at 1 15 in the afternoon it's in their boardroom on the second floor of 375 11th Street in Oakland and they are contemplating raising their rates over the next two years so I just wanted to make sure that people are aware that we are seeing a six percent

0:05:47uh increase uh in the next two fiscal years so this rate increase that they're proposing is six percent in fiscal year 12 and another six percent in the following fiscal year of 13.

0:06:04and then uh last but not least is the May 14th uh Spring Fling along San Pablo Avenue um was quite exciting and to see all the improvements and walk through all the historic behaviors I did end up walking the full length of the San Pablo Avenue and listened to many of the pavers and

0:06:26it was exciting to hear some of the voices including council member abelson's voice on some of the pavers and I would strongly recommend that people really get out and walk San Pablo Avenue and visit our Merchants along San Pablo Avenue and and really begin to embrace the place that is San Pablo

0:06:47Avenue annual hopefully event over 30 businesses participated and either having some live you know musical events or free giveaways it was beautiful to watch family reunions of multiple Generations historic families you know greeting each other and using these new

0:07:15outdoor living rooms of our community um and so I just want to just Echo the thanks I have for All City staff past and present as well as council members past and present to who have put all this great effort and um transforming so many aspects of El Cerrito from The Creeks I I feel like

0:07:35we're restoration Specialists from Creeks to you know now San Pablo Avenue transportation wise as well as historic theaters I think we we do such a great job and um and I'm so proud to to have had the chance to to explore all the pieces and really take the time I think myself I only made it

0:07:54halfway through but it was um wonderful to see and just spend the time kind of looking at back out on the Avenue from the framing of these new a lot of storefronts have improved and um and to see it framed looking out at the Avenue is really really great great site

0:08:13um so with that I think uh we can yeah sir maybe you could mention for those that are listening we it's interactive the plaques are interactive maybe you could briefly say how that works yes Craig there's uh if you go to our website there's a there's a whole MP3 set of the mp3s that you can

0:08:35download as well as on on the day of the Spring Fling there was these um the the QR codes you can scan with an iPhone and you can instantly download I don't know if those will be um on our website as well but um but yeah it's it's almost 28 pavers I believe uh fantastic resource to discover

0:08:58yes you can also download them on iTunes so thank you great so I think where you can move on to item three which is oral Communications from the public yes our first Speaker Lori Berry and city council thank you for allowing us to talk for a few minutes I'm representing unity in the community and

0:09:30I have emailed some information to each of you individually as well as provided some print out copies of that as well and I just want to say that we're having an event on October 8 2011 at the Richmond Civic Center and Auditorium and even though we're having it in Richmond

0:09:46really we're trying to unify our communities together because you know even though we live in one area we really all interact within this West County area and it's important especially since the financial crisis of 2008 and all you know people have varying needs in our

0:10:06communities some more than others and we're trying to showcase the non-profits and resources available uh County city and local two people who have various needs in the community whether it be you know funding for Education senior resources all kinds of disabled

0:10:26and other resources which you'll find in the packet and we're also teaming with we're looking for over 100 non-profits to be in the area but additionally it's going to be a free uh all-day fun family event so there'll be activities for children and their families and it's

0:10:45all free and we're looking to have free food entertainment throughout the day as well as the non-profits offering resources inside the breakout rooms inside the auditorium where they can discuss more about what services they have sign people up for services or speak about other

0:11:02necessities or issues affecting the community may it be you know gangs or drug assistance counseling that sort of thing so we're really looking for assistance in partnership with El Cerrito as well because we're inviting the whole West County area and hoping that you know maybe we can meet with you

0:11:22I'm sure you guys have some ideas to help us or other resources that we haven't had on our list to contact to help the community so we'd like to contact you in the future Juneberry honorable mayor El Cerrito city council my name is Gene Berry I live in San Pablo so as my wife stated already our

0:11:57intent is to be a Nexus or a hub for all the non-profits to come to one area people out in the community have an issue with oh here's a non-profit here here's a non-profit there what are their services how do we find out about them we want to bring all the non-profits

0:12:14into one area where all of the community can come to one central place find out what the non-profits do how they function that is the basic premise to what we're trying to do as my wife also said we're looking not necessarily for financial assistance but there's a lot

0:12:33of brain power right here in this room along with some of the other City councils we've met with this is our first time doing this is going to be the first annual it will be hopefully every year that we'll be able to do this we're looking for corporate sponsorships to

0:12:49help defray some of the costs but again we're looking for assistance with people who have maybe done some massive events that have a wealth of knowledge in those areas to do something like this who have had previous experience again where this is our first one so we're

0:13:09sort of struggling through trying to make sure we do this right so as my wife said we are looking for the brain power recommendations which you may feel would be a good way to do this or areas where you might be able to help us do this and and make it work the best so like we

0:13:29said all the different areas of our community can come to one area feel safe have a good day of experiences and learn what all the non-profits do and how they help our community as well as if each City would like to have a table there to hand out your own literature we'd be

0:13:48more than pleased to have you there with that I'd like to say thank you very much and hope to hear from you thank you Al Miller good evening Mayor John and council members I just wanted to take a moment to comment on agenda item 5B the proclamation congratulating officer

0:14:13chalk on his recognition by Exchange Club of Albany El Cerrito as officer of the year uh particularly wanted to acknowledge and thank him for his efforts in the area of reducing uh incidents of drunk driving drunk driving have uh seems to have the one thing in common in addition to being

0:14:34hazardous and embarrassing for the driver it exposes everyone on the streets in an automobile a bicycle or a pedestrian to random acts of horrible injuries and and too many cases death and the effort he's put into that has made our street safer and for that I wanted to thank him thank you

0:14:59thank you thank you no further speakers uh with that we can move on to presentations we have a presentation on Portola Middle School academic program by Denise Van Hook good morning I'm Denise Van Hook the principal of Portland Middle School and I'd like to thank you for having us this evening I

0:15:37brought with me and I'll let them introduce themselves as they come to speak but I brought my vice principal and two students who will speak this evening tonight we'd like to share some good news about Portland Middle School [Music] okay we'll start off with our school

0:16:02demographics as you can see Portland is a very diverse School diverse population right now our enrollment is about 500 505.

0:16:13it's gone down from last year our academic programs are as such we do have our core programs as you see English Math Science Social Science and PE with those we do offer regular and advanced classes our advanced classes or for our students who are designated gate

0:16:34or for those students who are have a high academic Achievers so we offer those for those students our elective programs the students in addition to taking their core subjects they choose one elective and we have Spanish band leadership drama and Computer Applications

0:16:55next year we're going to be offering um in addition to Spanish we have Spanish one in Spanish two next year we're going to offer a Spanish which will the students who are at Washington Elementary School then a dual emergent program so they're actually fluent in

0:17:14English and in Spanish so we will devise a program for them and as well as for the high school so when those students graduate they will be certified by literate so we will have that program for them next year for a special education students we use the collaborative inclusion model we try

0:17:34to mainstream as many special education students as possible the collaborative model is where the general education teacher and the special education teacher they collaborate they actually co-teach so they're in the class with all of the students so the students in

0:17:50the class not only the special education students but the regular ed students get the support of both teachers foreign we have some support programs we have EGC which is the education guidance center it's sponsored by UC Berkeley it's actually a college awareness

0:18:09program we have a College advisor who comes three days a week the they offer field trips the students have gone to Stanford and they actually attended the UC Berkeley UC Davis football game they'll be attending some other field trips in the summer they actually

0:18:28um have academic advising sessions they have weekly lunch workshops and presentations related to college they have career and self-aware awareness and study skills and we have about 80 students who are in that program this year we also have project success and Gateway

0:18:46those are counseling services offered to the students so the students can receive counseling as well we have a career exploration program that's a seven week 14 class period curriculum it's designed to Aid 7th and 8th grade students in beginning to explore their careers and

0:19:07how education correlates with those careers our accomplishments we actually last year we achieved our we met our academic performance index or the API we increased by 22 points so we're very proud of that all of our subgroups met their performance targets and even those subgroups that didn't

0:19:31have to meet or Target they improved it as well so all of our subgroups improved our professional Learning Community we've actually put in some structured systems and protocols where we can come together all of the stakeholders and look at data talk about students needs

0:19:51and and work and continue to have that cycle of inquiry that conversation our gate committee has actually now grown into what we call Park and park is parent academic rigor committee so we're actually trying to increase the rigor for our in our core programs so we have

0:20:13our families and communities coming together to work with us we actually have a chapter now this year we're very proud of the Portola chapter of the National Junior Honor Society which recognizes and encourages academic achievement among middle school students it also values and fosters the ideals of

0:20:34scholarship character service citizenship and Leadership and we actually had a ceremony an award ceremony a first annual one on open house which was May 12th it was wonderful we had more people than we anticipated the we had 30 participants who received a National Junior they were

0:20:53inducted into the National Junior Honor Society and then we have promoting gender respect it's actually um it's a community organization called Stand it's families against violence and what they did is they're pilot piloting the program at our school they worked

0:21:13with about say maybe 24 to 30 young men and there were two 15-week sessions that worked with young men during their lunch period and these young men actually volunteered and after school and what they did they talked about the Dynamics of abusive or bullying relationships but

0:21:32I know not only talk about it because we know that talk doesn't always do so much but they actually worked on activities on how to create safe environments create solutions for youth violence how to speak out against the influences that contribute to the relationship violence

0:21:51and they also talked about creating a culture of peace and along with uh the National Junior Honor Society these young men put on a fabulous presentation they had to do a project at the end and it was just we were crying at the ceremony so we are going to have that next year and we're

0:22:11going to include girls as well and I'm going to turn it over to Mr Burnham but I want to say this is also our second annual career day will happen on Tuesday May 17th and it's from 8 30 to 11 15. we'll have a gallery walk and we'll have a discussion panel and so

0:22:31we're hoping that next year we can have someone from City Hall come and share about your careers uh thank you for the opportunity to address the council my name is Matthew Burnham I'm the vice principal at portal middle school and along with the great story that we have to tell there are of

0:22:50course challenges we're a middle school one of the emerging challenges that we've been dealing with over the last I would say about year and I think it's ramping up not just in at our school but I'm sure across the country and probably around the world is cyber bullying

0:23:05it's out there and it's becoming more and more prevalent but we've been doing some things to address cyber bullying in our school and one of the things is we've partnered with the PTSA to put on a couple of educational workshops for parents opportunities for parents to

0:23:19learn how to work with our young children and our teenagers uh the first was the learning to speak adolescent which is an excellent opportunity for parents to learn the lingo of our kids uh something that Ms Van Hook and I are very Adept at right now one of the other

0:23:37workshops was how to take back control of your household and um it was a both well-attended events uh We've also have a couple of clubs and um one would be the free to be club which kind of sounds as exactly uh as it is it's an opportunity for kids to express themselves in a way that they're not

0:23:59judged and it promotes a positive climate on our campus Ms Van Hook brought up the promoting gender respect group an excellent group that helps us deal with bullying we also had the opportunity to have some high school students come and present to our seventh graders a presentation about the

0:24:17consequences of cyber bullying in this Modern Age we had a day at our school where we had everybody attempt to be an ally for those who need support and we have a continued partnership with the El Cerrito Police Department our school resource officer Brian Elder

0:24:37and Miss Van Hook and I are developing a system for anonymous tips site-specific at our school so that we can kind of get a handle on some of our bullying on campus thank you goals we have uh along with our usual goals of increasing our API and our ayp at Portola Middle School we've seen the

0:25:00development and implementation of the writer's coach connection at El Cerrito High School and seen and heard about its um uh ability to have kids work one-on-one with adults to improve their writing which leads to a better of human in school we'd also like to continue to build on

0:25:21our academic rigor and improve Student Success working with our Park committee which is a group that started out as just our gate gifted and talented committee has now become a group that wants to be inclusive of all students on campus to improve the rigor for all of

0:25:39our students not just our gifted and talented students we want to prepare our students for success in high school and for success in college and Beyond thank you [Applause] hi my name is Thomas I'm a seventh grader at Porto Middle School and I just want to tell you about my experience at

0:26:06Portland Middle School [Laughter] Middle School I thought was like what everybody said it was before I went there I thought I was going to be horrible School everybody doing bad things people getting beat up every day you know that kind of stuff but when I went there I saw that it was a really

0:26:26good school teachers were teaching us stuff that I could really that we could really understand it was it wasn't too hard but it still challenged us towards an amount I thought that the teachers really helped us a lot they didn't just give us work talk about in class and that was it

0:26:46if you needed help you can go back to them at lunch or after school and ask them about it ask questions and it would take time out and help you the the people there at school I thought would you know bully you all the time make put you down but they really were

0:27:04nice everyone's helping each other out everybody's friends there um yeah and I really enjoyed being there so thank you [Applause] [Music] oh hi hi I'm Michaela Mejia and I'm an eighth grader at Portola Middle School um and I'm going to share my opportunities and experience

0:27:29um is with you guys tonight um being at Portland I was able to join the student body Council last year I was a director of activities this year um I was given the opportunity to be the president so it was really um enjoyable time for me um I was able to go to the PTSA meetings

0:27:49and listen to all the parents and we have a really great PTSA this year um they're back us up a hundred percent they're um always look giving us ideas to make our school better to help us um being just there for us to back us up um this they're doing our eighth grade

0:28:08graduation right now and it sounds really exciting so I'm really excited for that right now um being at Portland we had many opportunities actually I went on a trip with Miss um Abelson for the League of Women Voters and um we got to go to Sacramento we had a nice ride up there it was

0:28:28really enjoyable and um like they said the National Junior Society I was able to be a part of that and it was it was very very nice we got to dress up bring our families they gave us a PIN to show that we're in this um group for for life and um it was really nice they acknowledged

0:28:47us for doing our best and there's lots of students at Portland who are doing their best and who are and they're acknowledging us so it does feel really nice um we went the eighth graders went to Washington DC this year and oh my God the trip was tremendous we got to visit

0:29:01so many different places the cap um the White House the it was just really nice uh sightseeing and um so that was really nice too um the what else did I have here um oh yeah and we had our testing this year um the PTSA put together a group and we got to have breakfast in the morning uh

0:29:23first period was we had our breakfast relaxed got our minds focused for testing and testing time was really nice so thank you for that because it really helped us um tutoring after school if we need for the students who need help um overall Portland gives us these great

0:29:41experiences and I just like to thank our principal for that because it is nice once you get involved there's so much stuff that you can do in to to just further your mind your education and when you get older you can look back and say I did this I did that and um it's

0:29:58just really great thank you everything [Applause] thank you very much are you taking questions now or or that's it are there questions or comments from Council I had a comment um first of all I think I have an opportunity to spend some time on campuses around the the district and

0:30:23also in Berkeley and Alameda and the one thing that I think you get if you spend some time is the vast majority of students are really good people and they're excited for their future and uh I think we saw two examples of that here so I think they're they're seems like to me they're ready to go

0:30:45and then I wanted to say that there's going to be three of us representing El Cerrito at the um the Ed fund on dinner this Friday night uh council member benazini and councilman Abelson and myself um and it's one thing I I enjoy going every year not only representing the

0:31:06city but to seeing all the uh achievements uh in particular from the faculty and the different really good faculty members that we have teaching in the district and to support the Ed fund they do a lot of the things that I think we heard the portal of students talk

0:31:24about a lot of that comes with the efforts not only with the school district and and their staff and but also the Ed fund which is highly successful so I'd like to thank for the presentation it's really good I just had one question and maybe it's not fair because you don't know but could you

0:31:44kind of give us just a brief overview of where we are with the Castro Construction is that possible or oh I see Dr harder there maybe I can put him on the spot well the the good news is that we're through the sequa uh period and and we've submitted all of our drawings to

0:32:11uh uh division of State architect and so as soon as it comes out and then we'll be ready to go to uh uh ready to go out for bid on that so it's it's moving along we're we're still looking at a at a mid-year of the 13-14 school year to actually be in the new school so that's

0:32:30why we've done some improvements at the temporary campus because we're going to be there for a couple more years oh great thank you very much well I just want to say that I really appreciate this report and I am very impressed by what I heard you say the various people who presented

0:32:50it and I'm particularly impressed by the uh advancement in achievement to get 22 points across all subgroups I know that sounds pretty technical but um I'm really impressed by that and you're you're doing something absolutely positively right and on behalf of those of us

0:33:14um who who work on other aspects of else read I want to really thank you for doing a fantastic job and I know how fantastic your students are because I had the privilege as was mentioned of going to Sacramento with a couple of them and um I do have to say that when

0:33:31they got up there they um they started out I would say a little bit on the shy side which we kind of expected meeting with legislators but by the end of the day they were demanding to know answers they did a fantastic job and um they got they had the opportunity

0:33:50to set where the legislators normally sit in a hearing room and um and Grill somebody from the state department of super in the state superintendent of public instructions office and so these are really great students and we were very privileged to include them in our group so thank you

0:34:13I'll just make a quick comment I first want to say what a great job your speakers Did it's so I know it's so nerve-wracking to come up to a microphone and speak to people and you guys both did it with notes and you both sounded so natural and that's such an important skill you don't even know how

0:34:26many adults can't do that so great job and just a quick question for Miss Miss Van Hook are there any of the programs you mentioned today um yeah is there any danger given the sort of state of the budget and the uncertainty over next year that we will see sort of a diminishment of any of

0:34:42these things or I'm not sure if you have done you probably don't even know yet what your budget will be well I do but these uh the the pro the promoting gender respect it's it's a non-profit organization so it's paid for and the counseling services um I haven't heard that they will be cut

0:35:02so we're fortunate enough to be able to continue those programs excellent thank you I'd like to take this opportunity to thank principal Van Hook and vice principal uh Brenham for uh all of your work last fall I know we with the relocation of the campus we had a

0:35:21potential situation with the new bus stop and uh I want to thank you for being diligent and and making that a non-issue um it was it's delightful to be in a situation where we we were in a position where we could say we thought the school district would take care of it and you

0:35:39did in such a nice way that it was a non-issue so thank you very much for that and I just want to Echo thanks for your time and and sharing your perspectives I had just one question for the students if either of you wanted to speak up on this just how you guys are are dealing

0:35:57with the the temporary campus situation if there's any things that you had um wanted us to know about from my point of view what I think is I like the campus like with the Portables it's smaller you're there you don't have to run up the stairs go to get your locker your books are at home so you

0:36:16don't have to carry the weight um and classes are closer um more supervision easier to spot see things and um going to the park is nice for the PE so I like it it's enjoyable thank you I have to say I I'll relate to that because when I went to Portola well first of all it was a

0:36:39lot easier going down the stairs but turning around and coming back up within five minutes or I think we had I forget six maybe was quite a challenge so I I I can see where you like that thank you very much thank you so with that we can move on to um our adoption of the consent calendar

0:37:08anyone like to make a motion to adopt I move that we adopt the consent calendar consisting of items 5A and 5B second all those in favor please say aye aye [Music] motion passes unanimously we can now move on to a public hearing item 6A confirm the diagram and Levy the

0:37:39assessment for fiscal year 2011-12 landscaping and lighting assessment District I think we have a staff presentation on this first good evening Madam mayor members of the council I'm Mary Dodge administrative Services director and I'm here tonight with uh the request your approval of the

0:38:09diagram and Levy the assessment for the lighting and Landscape assessment District this is something we do every year we have the process where we authorize the work we've set the public hearing we review the report and we're at this point now that we could vote to or

0:38:26consider putting it on the on the tax roll it is a um primarily 72 dollar a year single-family assessment and has a total of 771 thousand dollars of Revenue and is included in the budget thank you questions from Council at this point just one quick point I think it should

0:38:55be pointed out and noted that this rate hasn't gone up since 1988 and uh so I I just like to point that out every year it's been what 20 almost uh 20 going on the 23rd year and it's been 72 dollars for all 23 years so just wanted to point that out thanks this is as was voted in its original

0:39:21vote in 1988.

0:39:25um so we can open the public hearing at this point is there any public comments on this item no speakers I moved close to the public here I second that all those in favor please say aye aye aye motion to close public hearing is unanimous um would anybody like to make a motion

0:39:45to pass yeah I'll I'll make the motion but I'm going to make some comments that councilmember Jones stole my my most appointed uh comment but I do want to extend to staff um of gratitude I know I've been commenting on the landscape lighting and assessment district report for about

0:40:02three years now even before I joined on the council and I want to thank you very much for this report it is by far the clearest and cleanest report that we've ever had on the landscape lighting and assessment district and if anybody would like to see a good report they should

0:40:18pick up the landscape lighting and assessment District it actually as thick as it is it's only about 10 pages long because the bulk of the report is the property role assessment uh that that the engineers use to divide uh to figure out what our our collections will be so

0:40:36I want to thank staff for that and point out that indeed the um the amount that we collect on this has not changed in 23 years and uh as during that same 23-year period our cost of of providing the landscape lighting and assessment district has gone up and it requires us to supplement it with other

0:40:58revenues and and in the past we've used a combination of uh general fund and gas tax and I want to acknowledge the staff's ability to work within the revenue structure to use gas tax money to fully backfill the landscape lighting and assessment District this year and

0:41:20still continue to provide us great services within the city within the meager income that we are getting out of this tax with that I will move the resolution of the city council of the city of El Cerrito confirming the diagram and levying the assessment for fiscal year 2011 2012 for the Landscape

0:41:40and Lighting assessment District number 1988-1 second motion all those in favor please say aye aye motion is unanimous and passes you can move on to item 6B confirming the method of collecting the storm reconstruction fees so um this is for our storm drain fee this one was approved in 1993. it has

0:42:15primarily a 58 single family dwelling all of these ones have different land use codes amount but the the primary one is the 58 this is uh the what I'm requesting from you for this one is just approval to put it on the tax roll and this generates 698 thousand dollars

0:42:36and is already planned in part of our budget and I would like to to thank you for your input in regards to the lighting and Landscape report I do think it's a much better report and I think the Jerry Bradshaw the Public Works director and the consultant did a really

0:42:51good job on the maps and some of the other information that really helps you understand it any questions from Council I I have one question um and it's it's more for the director of Public Works um and it's last year at this time when this item came up we did have public

0:43:10comment from the public and I'm hoping that there's some positive good news that we can report out and in the comments if I remember correctly were with regards to the intersection of is it Pomona or Ramona and Curtis I'm doing it for memory I think you're referring to the flooding

0:43:30we had um about a year ago and it was at um on on Carmel just off of Fairmont and also on Ramona some of the homes behind that had some minor flooding yes we have been working with the root of the problem was at a trash rack situated up on the East Bay mud treatment plant property

0:43:53there's a trash truck that the city a contractor to take care of many years ago in the mid 90s after an earlier we did an exchange where we took possession of a storm drain pipeline that benefit our system quite a bit and we now maintain the trash Rack in exchange

0:44:10so we had been doing the the the maintenance on that but unfortunately there is a lot of native Creek just Upstream that sometimes gives off a lot of debris so that was the event that happened so it wasn't really any fault of the maintenance and so forth but it's one of

0:44:26those things that I think there can be some improvements made to the trash Rack East Bay mud is a little reluctant to invest money in this they felt like they had the solution back in 95 but we have brought them to the table to talk about making some improvements and and they've

0:44:41agreed to look at some modest redundancies to help with the trash truck performance and we also are looking at doing some extra drainage inlets down on on Colusa and Carmel to help Safeguard this neighborhood for many future events in the meantime we're doing being extra

0:45:00diligent in our maintenance there and we've come through the storms this past winter just fine great thank you for that report any other questions from Council we can open the public hearing are there any comments on this item no comments I'll move to close the public hearing

0:45:21thank you all those in favor please say aye aye aye motion is unanimous to close public hearing um anybody would like to make a motion to I just like to make a comment again even though I know this is on how how the fees will be collected and it's being proposed that we collected

0:45:46through the property tax for a lot of good reasons in the report should anybody be interested but again this is not a new a fee this is a 58 fee had always been 58 dollars and it's nothing new it's one that we've been using since uh what is it uh 1993.

0:46:06uh since we don't have a majority protest I would suggest we pass this uh I can make an emotion if you like I'd like to resolve that the city council the city of El Cerrito to adopt the annual report and directing that storm drain fees for fiscal 2011-2012 be collected through the

0:46:30property tax rules second all those in favor please say aye aye aye the motion is unanimous um great so we can now move on to agenda item 7A which is the Ohlone Greenway arterial Crossings and Arlington Boulevard safety Improvement projects looks like we have a staff presentation

0:46:57private good evening mayor Chang and council members my name is Yvette Ortiz your engineering manager with the public works department tonight's staff is requesting that cancel adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with bkf Engineers to provide design and

0:47:17Engineering Services for the Ohlone Greenway arterial Crossings and the Arlington Boulevard at Madera and Brewster Drive safety improvements projects the agreement is for an amount not to exceed 49 902 dollars for their loaning project and 24 266 dollars for the Arlington project

0:47:39the resolution authorized authorizes the city manager to approve change orders in it the amount not exceeding about 15 percent for each project and June 2008 the city was awarded a Federal Grant from the highway safety Improvement project for the design and construction of the

0:47:58Ohlone project soon after in October 2008 the city was awarded a Federal Grant from the safe rest to school program for the Arlington project the lonely project will improve nine uncontrolled crosswalks along or near the aloni project alone Greenway an uncontrolled crosswalk is a crosswalk

0:48:17that is not controlled by either a stop or a signal along its length The Greenway crosses 14 roadways the focus of this project is the busier of those roadways and includes Fairmont Central Stockton Moser Potrero Hill and cutting and we work closely with the police department

0:48:37as well to identify those locations the project generally consists of installing in pavement flashing crosswalk lights at those crossings that will detect both pedestrian and bicyclists the estimated cost for design and construction is 588 dollars and 100 sorry 90 of this is being funded by

0:49:00the Federal Grant and the remaining 10 percent local match is being provided by our manager J funds the Arlington project will improve two uncontrolled crosswalks on Arlington one at Madera and Madera Drive and the other one at Brewster Drive the improvements at Madera Drive which

0:49:20is the busier of the two Crossings consists of in also the installation of in-payment flashing lights and curb ball belts to narrow The Crossing and at Brewster Drive which is the less busy of the intersections we will be doing curveball bouts the project also includes some

0:49:37educational enforcement and evaluation activities as part of the grant requirements and Public Works staff will be working closely with the police department and the um School itself to to complete those activities the estimated cost and design for their Arlington projects is 230

0:49:56470 the grant is actually paying for 100 of those costs in March 2011 Public Works staff issued a request for proposal to 23 firms and eight proposals were submitted by the deadline of April 7th staff evaluated the proposals to assure that the selected confirm would have a

0:50:16strong civil and traffic engineering background sensitivity to local issues and experience with similar projects including federally funded projects bkf Engineers emerged as the top ranked firm and we will work closely with bkf to produce the final design and contract

0:50:36documents for both projects thank you for your time and I can answer any questions uh questions from Council yes um so um I'm actually very um happy to see this project it looks like a really good Safety project it um or both of both of them do um and what I was wondering about the

0:51:00project on the green around the greenway is are you going to be redoing curb ramps or good question um the intent of the the project was timed so that the the retrofit part retro would go before the project and the retrofit project includes the consolidation of the

0:51:22pad and bike path and it would have included curb ramp improvements and so we're still hoping to time that just right so that the construction the installation of the impayment flashing lights will follow the BART retrofit project and will these the inpatient the

0:51:40m pavement lights be similar to the ones that were just recently installed in front of for example the El Cerrito post office yes it's the same kind of same concept um the lights in the pavement as well as the roadside signs with the flashing lights or the fashion signs and

0:52:00um will the um what I'm wondering about is that a lot of what I find on the greenway is there will be say three or four people across trying to cross at the same time and I'm just wanting to know if the curb ramps that you're planning on putting in with the new design will handle that

0:52:24kind of uh spread of pedestrians slash bicyclists as they cross all at the same time so so the console the new Consolidated path will be 14 feet wide and the curb ramp will match that with okay so right it should be wide enough okay thank you very much thank you

0:52:44thanks for your presentation just just one question if we approve this tonight what sort of timeline are you guys looking at for these improvements well they are federal grants with some specific deadlines and we need to finish the design by November of this year and

0:52:58uh so that then there'll be like a two a month time frame for Caltrans which administers the local the federally funded projects to review our documents and give us authorization to proceed with construction so hopefully we should begin Construction in the spring of

0:53:122012.

0:53:14begin and complete complete uh you know that I think the big um the big factor for the Illinois Greenways to coordinate closely with the BART project and the BART project is a long-term uh three-year project um and so they'll be working on segments um of the greenway within those three

0:53:35years so we'll just work really closely with them okay thank you and but the Arlington project is much shorter and you know with hopefully a two or three month construction time frame thank you just one quick question I think I know the answer but I want to ask it anyway

0:53:50give it an opportunity we as part of uh the park and rec commission I was part and parcel of the new Ohlone Greenway alignment and it sort of has come out this is I'm assuming consistent with the Ohlone master plan that that the trail master plan correct um that's right the the enhancement of

0:54:10crosswalks at the busier intersections is definitely in the master plan thank you on the Ohlone Greenway lighting um I was asked by a member of the public and I answered that we're actually adding light to what's already there is that correct or we just replacing

0:54:32so that's a that's the next item I I think and Maria can answer that question are you talking about the lighting a longer yeah yeah you can wait till next time no I you're right okay okay thank you very much okay excellent um congratulate staff um I believe this

0:54:56just want to confirm that we were awarded this grant as a result of your work to to apply for the funding yes we did the staff did apply for the funds thank you I wanted just to recognize the amazing leverage of almost you know three quarters of a million dollars of

0:55:11outside funding thanks to your hard work um very exciting project with that I'd entertain a motion do we have any public speakers public speakers no speakers um I I will take this opportunity to thank staff for the Zen the similar to what mayor Chang was just saying it's

0:55:32amazing how we're getting nine hundred thousand dollars worth of improvements in our city for approximately 150 000 worth of investment and that's um really does reward being repeated so that the listeners at home really understand that our city staff is going the extra mile to get some of these

0:55:51funds and grants out that are from outside the city so that we can continue to improve our environment so can I add on to that yeah I believe that 150 000 is also outside funds it's major J yeah so those are not yeah it's almost all outside yeah so they are not in fact uh the use

0:56:10of our general fund monies that we're that are so near and dear to us right now um these are monies that could not be used for example um for operational purposes in our city so thank you I uh I'm really looking forward to this I think uh well as many times as I've

0:56:33crossed the lonely Greenway and uh had a hard time let's put it uh seeing people crossing I think this will greatly improve that and and I know it's been a long time coming but one of the benefits of waiting we're going to have a state-of-the-art Crossing this just isn't a couple signs

0:56:52and some pavement that paint that might reflect in at night we this is going to be probably the best intersections that you'll find anywhere with with this Crossing and I I think it will greatly help the pedestrians as they go back and forth particularly in the winter time when the pavement is wet

0:57:13um I I really think uh it's looking good the other thing is uh I like the Arlington um I take it that hopefully what I'm envisioning is we'll learn a lot from this as far as safety around our schools and I know we have the Harding intersection that we're going to be

0:57:35doing uh whenever Caltrans gets around to approving it it would be nice but I think hopefully this will add that that this will prove to be a very good system around schools and we can begin to to utilize this in particular I like the uh mention that we are going to

0:57:58enforce for motorist violations I think it's needed not only up uh not only on the Arlington near Madera school but of all of our schools um and I and the police can't be at all places at once but you go around a school particularly in the morning also on the pickup but it seems to be

0:58:21the morning and you I am very surprised at to see how kids are crossing streets let's put it that way and where adults are dropping them off to class so I hope this helps the whole the whole idea is to help and so I'm really looking forward to these two as a greatly improving safety through

0:58:44state-of-the-art technology so thank you I'll just add one quick comment I live along the greenway and this is so exciting I feel like I've seen so many people traveling at different speeds pedestrians bicyclists women with their strollers that sort of thing and they

0:59:01all approach that intersection and oftentimes they look around with sort of a frightened look on their face but I do think the majority of drivers do try to be conscientious but for those who need that extra visual you know cue that there are people crossing there it's going to be

0:59:16such an improvement and I can't wait to see what it looks like I can't resist adding a comment about that um this afternoon I was trying to cross San Pablo Avenue using one of our uh existing uh in-pavement uh sections near the one near the post office and uh it's

0:59:36a rainy day you know it's the worst conditions possible I would suppose and you know it works I don't know what it is about those impavement lights but they really work um and um so I I find this very exciting and there's I mean there's so many different things I could actually say

0:59:57that I really like about this project um but I think the one I like the most is that not using our money getting such a great project and not using our money is really top of the pile thank you I move a resolution of the city of the I let me start over I move a resolution of

1:00:19the El Cerrito city council authorizing the city manager to execute a Professional Services agreement with bkf Engineers for engineering and design services on the Ohlone Greenway arterial Crossings and Arlington Boulevard at Madera and Brewster drives safety Improvement projects

1:00:37second all those in favor please say I I motion is unanimous to move on to our second happy item of the evening um agenda item number seven is for a purchase of light emitting diode light fixtures for the Ohlone Greenway another multimodal transportation project

1:01:12[Applause] good evening mayor Chang and members of the council my name is Maria Sanders and I'm with the Environmental Services Division and the agenda bill before you today requests authorization for the procurement of 140 LED light fixtures in the amount not to exceed a hundred and

1:01:31four thousand dollars and this is to replace the current wadding along the Ohlone Greenway the current overhead lighting along the lone and Greenway and since the purchase is being funded as part of our Energy Efficiency and conservation block grant funds I'd like to take this opportunity

1:01:49to provide a brief update on our eecbg projects as well in the winter of 2009 we applied for 123 000 and eecbg funds um which were Federal Federal stimulus formula grant funds made about available to small jurisdictions through the California energy commission and uh the

1:02:12next slide may come up let's see perhaps not it looks like we're getting it we can see oh you can see it okay and it's available on the back screen if you want to all right great so the next screen is um in order to take advantage of the entire amount it's working fine it's just the screen

1:02:35is not showing um so in order to take advantage of the entire amount available to the city and to also meet the energy effective cost-effectiveness criteria of the grant we chose to bundle several projects together these were interior lighting retrofits in 14 of our buildings and which

1:02:57basically provided a lot of energy savings about 67 000 kilowatt hours of savings for relatively small costs of forty one thousand and then also the loaning Greenway lighting project which by itself would have been would not have met the cost Effectiveness criteria but

1:03:15nonetheless was a high priority Energy Efficiency project because it provided multiple benefits um and met the goals of the Illinois Greenway master plan and as you can see from this chart um the eecbg projects have been broken into several procurement projects

1:03:33um so there's uh the building letting retrofits um at 41 000 and then in the um and as we reported a couple weeks ago in the city managers weekly here we go there we go um uh through city manager approval we awarded institution the installation of the building lighting retrofits to

1:03:55energy conservation options or Eco which was the lowest bid out of seven bids and um it's interesting to note that Eco is very committed to hiring graduates from Richmond build so we should be having several of those graduates actually enter into apprenticeship programs based

1:04:14on for this particular work and then here is the procurement right here that we're talking about today um and as you can see it's gonna it's broken up into two pure to procurement processes one for the equipment which is today and then we're right now um asking for

1:04:37um bids for the installation which will should be a small amount so we're going to do it through a negotiated bid process so as you know the city owns operates and maintains the lighting along the Loney Greenway and the current overhead lighting which is affixed to the

1:04:56underside of the BART tracks is inefficient and provides very spotty light and some are in good condition but some are in not so good condition and many need re-lamping on a on a regular basis this right here is um after working with a lighting consultant we narrowed our choice to a

1:05:23class of LED fixtures that were designed especially for to be used under bridges overpasses and parking garages um uh and that because they're rated for high vibration environments and this is a sample that we installed just behind the DMV so as you leave there's actually two samples there so

1:05:42look for the three light bar one which is like about three fixtures down um and uh this is that's the one that that's where um that we're put out to bid while um we specified this fixture by Beta in our in our bid our notice for bids beta is a manufacturer roadway LED fixtures

1:06:06so I noticed inviting bids did allow for other approved equivalents um a major concern in specifying the lighting along the lonely Greenway was to ensure that we had adequate light coverage over the entire Greenway especially over in the current bicycle path Which is far away from the light

1:06:28source so what you see here oops excuse me sorry about that so what you see here is this is the existing and it's actually um right behind um it's on the north side of Manila and you can see that this is the existing path the bicycle path right here this is the existing light source and you can

1:06:51see that it's pretty far away from the light source and you can also see that you're just not getting any kind of coverage in between and you're not getting there's actually a person right here and you might be able to see it on your screens so you really it's a hard

1:07:05it's a hard one to see this is the fixture that we specified and as you can see it is providing a lot of coverage over this is just one fixture obviously there's a actually a fixture that's operating right well right here and you wouldn't you know you wouldn't know it

1:07:23um but this led basically provides here's the pathway it provides lighting all across the pathway and um close to the the edge of the greenway so that you actually are lighting up dark recesses of the greenway as well so um based on these studies and the our field observations we issued an

1:07:52advertised um a formal notice inviting bids in late March and we received three bids one of which was for an approved equivalent and Omega Salvage electrical supply which actually is a beta distributor provided the lowest bid both on a per fixture and on a total a cost basis and the next

1:08:13lowest bid was about fifteen thousand dollars higher and as I noted we're currently requesting bids for the electrical firms for the installation of the actual fixtures and we anticipate uh starting this process in mid-june or commencing installation in mid-june so in

1:08:33conclusion I'd like to highlight the multiple benefits of this project first it improves The Greenway Aesthetics and security it implements the Ohlone Greenway master plan which called for better lighting along the Avenue it avoids greenhouse gas emissions of about 11 tons per year

1:08:52from the Energy savings the Energy savings and the maintenance cost savings are about ninety six hundred dollars a year and that provides for about a hundred and nineteen thousand in life cycle savings costs over 20 years of the of the fixture life and um getting back to both the ee CBG

1:09:12projects um they're leveraging about 11 000 of our funds to invest 160 000 in Energy Efficiency projects and upgrades which basically will yield about 22 000 a year in Energy savings for us so thank you and I can take any questions questions from Council at this point

1:09:34yeah I just want to clarify what I think I just heard you say that it's uh twenty two thousand dollars in energy and uh 9600 in maintenance in addition to that so there's no um it's uh the 22 000 is for both the lighting retrofit so it's a lighting retrofits in all the buildings which

1:09:55yields about about 16 to 17 000 a year and the Loney Greenway the Energy Efficiency benefits is about 5500 and then the and then the maintenance costs we spend about forty one hundred dollars a year um basically responding to lighting issues on the greenway thank you for

1:10:16that clarification but I guess the the question still stands the cost that we're putting in of about 11 000 will yield about nine thousand ninety 500 9 600 in Savings in the first year uh based on energy and labor right thank you right any public comments no no cards

1:10:46well actually I'm sorry I did have one question the vandalism uh it looked like to me when you showed the existing fixtures that the one that said needed repair uh looked like to me it was actually vandalized um and then now we're showing a nice flat uh fixture but there's no grading or

1:11:05anything to protect it is uh have have any experience with vandalism um you know I actually it is Vandal resistant um and as you can kind of tell that it's kind of a closed streamline case so um I guess if you shot you know at the casing you might have a problem but um

1:11:28it would take a lot to actually kind of each one of those is a separate little LED light so you'd have to be a pretty good aim with a you know with some type of you know the testing you did was there any problem with the vibration of the trains going I take it it's underneath the track

1:11:47correct yeah it had no problems with the fixture so far there hasn't been any um uh as opposed to the previous light fixtures these light fixtures um have been uh tested it's kind of a very high testing through independent lighting independent testing agencies for

1:12:08vibration so we um we actually narrowed it down based narrowed it down to um the class of lighting fixtures that we wanted based on the vibration issues and the final comment I have is I I'm I'm happy to see that um to make to finish off the project the way it should we had to go into Albany

1:12:31and to partner up with Albany to get that to finish off uh the project so it is complete I think is is a nice feature of the program it's a good partnership and uh what it'll do is it'll benefit the people who use that pathway going to and from Bart from Albany and the plaza area

1:12:57so um I thought that was very good and nice planning on that thank you before we let Maria go uh just one comment again great project I love all the cost savings that you've highlighted here so that we all understand you know what the investment is going to yield us

1:13:14um and I'm happy to see that uh there was some consideration giving given to light distribution we just have so many folks who live along the greenway and I know that they're always trying to balance Security on the greenway but still respecting you know people who are

1:13:30going to sleep at night and not having a light shining through their window at midnight so I was happy to see that there was some consideration given to um potentially using motion sensor controls and also understand uh from Mr Brad Mr Bradshaw that there might be an

1:13:45opportunity to provide shielding on certain lights if complaints do arise is that also yeah that's correct um we um that was also a very big consideration of ours and and um in uh you know putting our specification together and what we wanted to do is make sure that we had a fixture that we

1:14:04could control um that we can control and field on a case-by-case basis we also you know travel The Greenway to um just kind of verify the number of fixtures we thought might have a you know that there might be an issue and um it's a small a very small segment of

1:14:21the 140 um but um we just wanted to make sure that we had the option and it will be dealt with on a on a case-by-case complaint driven basis great I think that's the way to go that that definitely makes sense I think it's better to assume that we need more light than less at this point thank you

1:14:39that's one of the advantages of LEDs um you cuts down on the on the spillage but also you can aim them and it sounds like this has the feature to just oh yeah the feature is the what we're getting a standard light distribution we actually you know um did it there's

1:15:00several different types classified or types of light distribution and we got one that definitely aimed much more in One Direction which would be the direction over the bicycle path and the and the future alignment of the New Path and uh what we um about what we also wanted to do is

1:15:20that if you if there was an issue you can adjust the light levels or you can use glare guards in order to kind of respond to what the issue might be so um and there's controllable drivers that you can actually you can actually kind of Almost Do at the rheostat so um so

1:15:38those are the um those are the options that we have available to us with LED technology but you can do that with the existing fixture you don't have to buy any additional we would have to of we're going with a standard fixture because the cost is was a little bit on

1:15:55the high side for having the controllers factory installed on all of them what we would do on a case-by-case basis is replace with the ones that had the um the controls installed because you do need a control in order to make those drivers I understand great thank you

1:16:12yeah good that's a good idea thank you yeah I had a question back to um what the fixture itself looks like is that metal it's um a powdered coated yes I think it no it's it's plastic it's poly um but it's not glass powder coated polyester um the the diodes are really really

1:16:37heavy duty um plastic of some sort but yeah nothing's glass in there there's nothing the lenses are not glass in the everything in terms of the length of the project I see that it says it's 2.7 miles does that go does that mean it goes all the way from Brighton to

1:16:56um Baxter Creek it goes all the way actually from Brighton to um to Hill Street because uh all the lighting from Hill Street all along um Bart and then along Baxter Creek um that it's the El Cerrito Plaza area not El Cerrito Plaza what's the other one the plug yeah so anyway

1:17:19that that is all um a lighting that's either controlled by Bart or by the plastic even at Baxter Creek um Baxter Creek doesn't have the greenway overhead fixtures because it veers off just before just before it hits Baxter Creek okay so the okay so the project ends at Hill okay

1:17:39yeah so um okay thank you great sure yeah my comment just uh thank you for bringing this forward and and coordinating it obviously the timing of it is critical for many reasons one is the grant funding and all the fundings that are available but also so that when Bart

1:18:01finishes up their segments of the retrofit that we have the materials before installation and and we can start um lighting the path better right from the start right from when Bart vacates so I think that's fantastic and and I think it's um I'm really looking forward to making

1:18:18these safety improvements on the Ohlone Greenway one of our uh cities main transportation attributes that will be wonderful to be using it in the future more at all times of the day um just a quick clarification we're actually going to be installing it before the retrofit project begins and

1:18:39mainly just because the retrofit project is not supposed to be um uh impact in the lighting fixtures at all so so um and if anything does happen during the retrofit project they would just have to replace it so well that's good news too so it's sooner than later yes

1:18:57exciting great very very exciting project and just amazing that in this economy we have so many exciting projects moving forward so with that is there an emotion okay um I move that we adopt resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a contract with Omega Pacific

1:19:21electrical supply for the purchase of 140 light emitting diode or LED light fixtures in an amount not to exceed a hundred and four thousand dollars for replacement Lighting on the Alani Greenway second all those in favor please say aye aye aye motion is unanimous

1:19:44thank you very much Maria and can now move on to the final item this evening which is Council assignment slash liaison reports anybody like to go first nothing to report at this time okay um I would like to report on uh three things um actually crime prevention committee I

1:20:09previously reported it that they're continuing their planning efforts for National light out including their efforts to get hosts park and rec uh their last meeting on April 26th I neglected to report out that they too just like the environmental equality committee did

1:20:32take action to support prop 84 which staff will be bringing forward to us at some point here in the future and then the design review board met what would have been last week I guess and they met to look at the signage for the recycling center I just have two reports to give

1:20:59um since we last met the financial Advisory board has met twice on May 2nd and May 10th and we're having spirited discussions about the budget but no motions have been made at this point so uh I believe those will be made by our May 31st meeting so probably the next

1:21:15time we'll meet we'll have sort of and their recommendations and comments on the budget and economic development board is not met but they will be meeting this Wednesday so uh we'll have a report back after that meeting included mine in the in the comments I made earlier okay okay so I just wanted

1:21:37to report on and thank staff for wonderful Bike To Work Day council member menacing joined us for a little while from 6 30 to 9 A.M we had a total of 370 bikers a good 75 more than last year so really exciting almost 30 students along the way first year we had a second Energizer

1:21:58station at the high school first ever Bike To Work Day business bicycle friendly business coupons that donated almost you know seventy dollars per coupon and over 12 businesses featured and then finally just wanted to let people know that there will be a a drawing

1:22:17um if you go and fill out the survey www.surveymonkey.com s slash El Cerrito bike number two work and if you fill that out by next uh Wednesday the the drawings uh will announce a winner of a bicycle as well as other great prizes at the bike and film next Tuesday

1:22:42um which is Beijing bicycle at the Cerrito theater and um so yeah I just wanted to Echo that it's it's a great event and got to meet all kinds of community members found that we have a a new bike celebrity uh editor of bicycle Times magazine just moved into town so

1:23:04um great event and look forward to the growing bicycle Community especially with all this great improvements coming along for The Greenway I also attended the mayor's conference which was last held at the city of Oakley where we had a presentation by Amy worth who's our MTC rep for the

1:23:24mayor's conference as well as Julie Pierce our abeg rep by the mayor's conference and got to hear about the um essentially the the initial stages of the sustainable Community strategy process and for those of you who haven't had a chance yet take a look at onebayarea.org to see what is being

1:23:46proposed we we basically have an initial county-wide concept that was built off of the shaping our futures smart growth visioning scenarios from early 2000s um and so building off of that as well as all the all of our communities Collective 19 cities well almost all of

1:24:05them have priority development areas that are kind of the starting point for for looking at where we're going to house growth in the region and so um in in kind of in conjunction in follow-up to that there I also attended our the County's um kickoff meeting Community Workshop in

1:24:24Concord a week from last Saturday where unfortunately we and unfortunately I was probably only two or three of of four or I was one of of two or three West Contra Costa representatives and um and and out of a total of 60 people and it was an interesting dialogue to try to kind of

1:24:48match all the the various perspectives of the county um I say that was probably the the uh an interesting hurdle or challenge that we we face as within the county being so diverse um so I do encourage all of you though to continue to continue to pay attention to

1:25:08that process as at this point it does feel like the West County voices much is very muted and not well if it continues to be at this rate of participation will not be very well represented um and I just also wanted to thank the human relations commissions we we last

1:25:29met um just a few minutes before the The Chiang Mai and Windrush historic event where also council member benicini was in attendance um it was a great event that was anticipated to only have 60 people but ended up being almost 200 people coming to to get a personal tour led by to

1:25:51alumni of the the orphanage and for many community members that have you know lived a lifetime near the school to get to learn about the history of the school was was a great moment um so with that I think that's it for my announcements and I think we can be adjourned

1:26:10thank you very much