Home Contra Costa County Editorial: Five Things I Want to See Happen in East Contra Costa in 2019

Editorial: Five Things I Want to See Happen in East Contra Costa in 2019

by ECT

With 2019 now in full swing, it brings new opportunity, ideas, and perspectives as we push forward towards the American Dream. It also provides a fresh start for us in East Contra Costa County to hit the reset button and start working on improving our quality of life.

For me, however, I have come up with a list of five things I would like to see addressed in 2019.

5. Better Driving Habits in East Contra Costa County

Photo by Pittsburg Police

It is wishful thinking that we can all agree people in this area need to slow down, stop running red lights and begin paying attention while driving. Accidents are occurring daily which is why I have stopped posting them for the most part on this website and instead opted to do that on our ECTNow APP— there are just too many!

If you recall, back in September, I posted a story that traffic crashes with rescue being up by 40% while over crashes were up almost 10%. The trend continued into the winter and we have not even hit rainy season yet.

I am not going to spend a lot of time on this wishful thinking because its self-explanatory, the ask to those on the roadway is to simply pay attention, get off your phone, stop texting, don’t drink and drive, nor smoke weed and drive. Most importantly, if you need to get somewhere, give yourself an extra to 10-15 minutes so we don’t see you going 75-mph down Lone Tree Way or 100-mph down Highway 4.

It is being proven over the past few months that law enforcement can write 100-tickets each day they do proactive traffic control details, but it is not changing driving habits.  Let’s look at it another way, if four Contra Costa Fire engines can be struck by vehicles in 2018, I’d say the community has a problem with paying attention while driving.

Lets all agree that we begin to obey traffic laws in 2019.

 

4. Collaboration in Goals

With all that has happened the past few years between fires, tragedy, people in need, there is no doubt East Contra Costa is a very giving community–we take care of our own in ones time of need. In 2019, I would like to see people in leadership positions drop their egos and begin collaborating with others by playing nice. No, I am not going to name names, but there is an abundance of non-profits in Contra Costa, if some of them combined services, combined events, the results would be enormous–you could go for a dollar vs. that penny.  A good place to begin talks for this would be at Supervisor Diane Burgis Non-Profit Roundtables.

Equally as important, cities in East Contra Costa claim they want to work together to move economic development forward. Okay, fine, but all we have seen is chatter over three-years, but the results have been minimal as each city is worried about its own tax revenue. It is nice to see the Chamber of Commerce coming together with a Business Expo in January, but the city’s need to also begin an area approach following a model by the chamber of commerce.

Lets go a step further and be completely honest, with Antioch spending over $400k in branding and marketing, and the City of Brentwood budgeting $149k on the Better in Brentwood campaign, throw in some funding from Oakley and Pittsburg and that is a pretty good budget that could reach a heck of a lot of business to entice them to come to East Contra Costa County. Yes, it is much more complex than what is being described but with more jobs, added sales tax revenue, house price increases, everyone wins by getting a piece of the pie.

Collaborating and dropping egos could be the game changer in 2019 that makes everyone’s life better.

 

3. Voters Approve Funding for East Contra Costa Fire

This is an issue we have been talking about since 2011 but going on for decades. Six-years and three revenue enhancement fails later there is still no solution in sight. It is unclear if the ECCFPD will place a tax on the ballot this year or wait until the packed 2020 ballot, but this is issue needs to be put to rest once and for all. Coming off the worst wildland fire season in the history of the state, with massive planned growth in Oakley and Brentwood nearly built out, three fire stations is a complete failure both at the state and local level.

To put this in perspective, Antioch (4), Pittsburg (3) and Bay Point (1) have a combined 8 stations through CONFIRE. Meanwhile, ECCFPD has 3 stations covering 250-square miles.   At some point, voters must come to the reality they are going to have to partially fund the District. Anyone trying to sell a consolidation plan with CONFIRE or shifting property taxes between agencies is fooling you—it is not going to happen.

Perhaps voters would be willing to fund two additional stations for a five-station fire model at approximately $175 per year, with stations 6 to 9 being funded with future growth tax revenue—thus sharing the burden between old and new. Some combination between current property owners and future property owners will need to share the burden as no one is getting a free ride if a solution is to be reached.

2019 needs to be the year East Contra Costa County residents gets very serious about its lack of fire service and fully comprehend the consequences of just 3-fire stations, especially with aid agreements with CONFIRE changing. With more homes in the pipeline, that is more people to service which will equal greater response times and even less availability of services we currently have–a scary combo!

 

2. Antioch’s Community Development & Economic Development Must Become a Priority

While Antioch Police have been the ones under the microscope for the past decade in Antioch, it appears Antioch’s community development and economic development had been given a pass. That can no longer happen in 2019.

The police department is no longer the problem in Antioch, its the community development and economic development departments. With Measure W funds coming, Antioch needs to position itself from a City that says “no” to most things and begin to find a way to say “yes” to businesses and new ideas–thus bringing in more revenue.

For example, it is stunning how a property owner could bring a privately funded $110 million redevelopment project (basically an upgrade of an existing property) to the City only to be rejected by city staff. This then goes back to the planning commission who further screw up the design.  Now the project is sitting in purgatory rather than attempting to revitalize an area.

In 2015, Antioch agreed to a deal with City Ventures for the Beede Lumber Yard and other properties. After a fight over a park at the Lumber Yard Property (twice), four years later and its crickets. Residents wanted a park, but they also have been unable to make it happen. Again, no resolution and the project is sitting in purgatory rather than revitalizing an area.

Most recently, an opportunity brought forward by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce to provide a citywide plan with the assistance of St. Mary’s College was met with resistance. Instead, the Council direction at this time is to only focus on the Somersville Corridor—sadly, for the same exact $57,000 investment they could get a citywide plan. That is the equivalent of 1 steak priced at $20 or you can get the same 5 steaks for $20… for whatever reason the city is opting for the single steak. Whoever is making these decisions is providing poor advice.

Ironically, with all the issues internally with the City, the idea of spending $236k to advertise how much opportunity Antioch has is premature at best because they have not solved their own internal problems first. Now you are asking outsiders to come in and create even more work, utilize more staff time and potentially cause more delays.

2019 needs to become the year Antioch leadership get serious about the community’s future and begin holding both businesses that are already here accountable while getting serious with the idea of becoming business friendly that can attract new business, spur investment and get people spending money within city limits.

For starters, the city should get serious with its opportunity zones in the Somerville Corridor. This was approved in March, since then crickets. These zones are a slam dunk to bring in development and upgrade the area—it is exactly what Antioch should be marketing.

Finally, the city should begin 2019 by creating an up-to-date inventory list of current business in Antioch along with a list of all available commercial real estate and history of the buildings. That is the very first step to setting up an internal infrastructure to have information readily available for business owners, developers or investors who may be interested in Antioch. At the very least, the city now would have a plan of how to handle certain properties in the city.

 

1. Address Blight and Homelessness

Illegal dumping on private property along Kirker Pass. Photo provided by Stacey Frost

At some point, the county and cities need to get on the same page in terms of ordinances and how to address both blight and homelessness.  While I understand it is NOT illegal to be homeless, more should be done to address the problem which has grown to 2,234 according to the 2018 Point in Time Count.

There are many examples of how homeless are impacting the quality of life in the communities of east county, but I will digress and just say more should be done–whether that is greater services being provided, tougher ordinances, or greater enforcement of ordinances, this should become a top priority for the County Board of Supervisors and local leaders.

As for blight, it seems to keep getting worse by the day. Countywide, $14 million dollars annually is allotted to maintain the 363 main miles of roads and grounds in Contra Costa County.

It is also costing the county public works an additional $1 million each year to clean up blight off roadways. In Antioch, how many times does the city wish to clean up E 6th Street due to homeless and cleaned blight at $40k a pop during the bigger cleanups? Has anyone been by KMART’s parking lot lately? It is also a big waste of police resources.

Blight is completely preventable with proper enforcement and people following rules or simply just caring. Heck, several times in the past month I have seen people driving down Lone Tree Way or even Empire Ave where they have thrown out full fast food bags of trash into the median. I mean it, some people just do not care where they leave their trash.

Going a step further, the county, last year, created a useless hauling ordinance. While great in theory, what good is that ordinance if not one hauler has signed up? What good is the ordinance if local cities do not mimic it which would allow for proper enforcement? This should be a slam dunk, but law enforcement needs more teeth in the ordinance to enforce it, not just have a feel good ordinance on paper that is not enforceable in the real world. For starters, it would make sense for all haulers to have a proper “tag” on the trailer knowing they are registered.

When it comes to blight, maybe a good first step is to launch a “Clean Contra Costa” campaign to combat blight and illegal dumping, build pride in a clean community, put illegal dumpers on blast, while education and highlighting resources of how to properly dispose of materials–including working with garbage companies.

I realize this is a greater issue than just East Contra Costa, but something has to give with this issue and some real commitment. Most importantly, there has to be follow up by local leaders. This is an issue that impacts everyone from a quality of life standpoint and we shouldn’t have to put up with it any longer than we have already been forced to by lack of urgency.

What is scary is should the next recession hit, this issue will be greatly compounded and we may never work our way out of it.

In closing, 2019 will be a challenging one because many cities across the county have some huge issues they are facing along with huge decisions that will have lasting impact. I encourage everyone to be engaged, take notes, and hold people accountable for their actions or lack of actions.

There is a lot of work to be done, but we can do that work by being kind, encouraging, and working together to make East Contra Costa an even better place than it already is. Lets begin to make positive change by building each other up, not tearing each other down.

I’ve laid out my five items for 2019, I would love to hear some of your areas of concern for 2019 area.

Mike Burkholder
Publisher of ECT
[email protected]

 

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16 comments

Millie Jan 1, 2019 - 2:49 pm

What about BART parking and poor public transportation or lack thereof?

Marty Fernandez Jan 1, 2019 - 6:45 pm

First Antioch has to find qualified people for economic development. Since before 2000 we have not had a qualified person and look where we are! Don’t borrow trouble from other cities because they are your friend. Search for qualified people. You spend all that money on branding which is inappropriate considering the shape we are in.

Jack Jan 1, 2019 - 7:32 pm

While house price increases will hopefully get rid of some of the criminal element in east county, there will be an even greater increase the number of homeless population. Investors, snapping up houses at top dollar, will show greater increases in rent. So, we’re between a rock and a hard place here.

I’ve lived in many countries where vagrancy was a crime and it was amazing how quickly their “homeless” found housing — with relatives, friends, etc.

Richard U Jan 2, 2019 - 12:16 am

The homeless problem is probably our biggest problem! Many of those people are mentally ill and should be in state hospitals like they used to be years ago! The late Governor Edmund “Pat” Brown (Jerry’s dad) who decided to shut down those facilities and that got the ball rolling! We need to have those programs restarted. For the sake of public safety, security and health problems, this must be done.

Stac Jan 7, 2019 - 8:56 am

So you want to lock up people because they are disabled. Should we have separate housing communities for people who have cancer, who have M.S., who are blind, and those that are deaf. What you are saying is that mentally ill people should not have a right to a quality life and that they are endangering the public. That is being racist against homeless. And you are greatly misinformed of how they should be handled. Ignorance is a sad contributor to not getting the issues fixed.

Julio Jan 2, 2019 - 9:36 am

Reagan shut down state mental hospitals.

Tammy Jan 2, 2019 - 1:48 pm

The first one to shut down the state mental hospitals in CALIFORNIA was the late Governor “Pat” Brown, who was long gone when Reagan came into the picture. Reagan did shut them down but Brown is the one who started it.

George Jan 2, 2019 - 2:22 pm

Why are so many homeless here in the the Bay Area?

If someone can’t afford a Mercedes then they would probably buy a less expensive car. If the homeless can’t afford to live in the Bay Area then maybe they could live somewhere else.

Dawn Jan 3, 2019 - 12:26 am

George — A lot of the homeless are from somewhere else. They were sent here with one-way tickets from other states as part of what is known as “BUS THERAPY!” I have relatives in other states who told me themselves they were glad that those people left and that now they are California’s problem. Some even bought them the one-way Greyhound tickets! That really pisses me off.

Jenesis Jan 2, 2019 - 11:09 pm

Wow you people are so uncaring. You talk about homeless people as if they are contagious or from another planet! You too could become one of “them” or your mother, sister, child etc could. Everyone is a paycheck away from being homeless. Hope it never happens to you or someone you love.

Lucy Ann Jan 4, 2019 - 12:42 am

Funny, you should mention contagions. The Los Angeles area is now experiencing epidemic proportion typhus outbreaks! You want that to happen here? And why is “everyone” a paycheck away from being homeless? Everyone? Where did that come from?

Catherine E. Parker Jan 3, 2019 - 12:32 am

I’m all for #5 BETTER DRIVING HABITS! But how do we achieve it? With cell phones in abundance, there is a lot of distraction because drivers still use them while on the roads and freeways. I see their cells being held to their ears as they drive. That is a huge distraction.

COLLABORATION OF GOALS is another one I find important. But how does one find non-profits in the first place? Do a search for them online? I know people I’d like to connect with non-profits and a list of what’s out there would be greatly appreciated.

FrankS Jan 3, 2019 - 4:58 am

You left off Oakley bringing back a true planning commission. They can’t seem to get things right so its time for a second set of eyes be put in place.

Do something for voters Jan 3, 2019 - 9:04 am

I want to see Supervisor Diane Burgis actually do something for East County outside cities other that round table talk and grandstanding at events not under the BOS responsibility. If not, she needs to go.

Mr. Fox Knows Jan 4, 2019 - 12:51 am

I am in total agreement with #3 .. Funding for East Contra Costa Fire. Every year, fires get worse and worse! While in 2018, the areas north east of us (Butte County, Lake County, etc.) experienced the worst disasters due to fires, this year those might get closer to our area. Not only do we need more fire-fighting equipment and trained personnel, we also need the means of spotting those sooner so proper action can be taken. Drones might be useful. Because some of the fires occurred from malfunctioning vehicles setting fires to brush, that must be addressed. A fire started in Concord when kids started shooting up rockets. People need to be vigilant of such things. Concord lucked out this time when someone saw the fire before it got under control. Maybe we need volunteers to monitor areas which are not inhabited and have vegetation someone might want to light up on purpose.

T J Grant Jan 7, 2019 - 7:54 pm

I would add another category to the five above: Our number one problem is immigration by people who have no working skills, no language skills and our taxpayers have to support them for God only knows how long. With more and more automation, we will need fewer and fewer unskilled laborers and also fewer people in general. Robotics and other automation is now gaining ground rapidly.

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