We Can Do It!
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Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending August 11th, 2017. 1. Meeting Notes The City Council is on meeting hiatus until Tuesday, September 12th. Enjoy the summer break! 2. Don’t Forget Tomorrow’s Rosie Rally! We can do it! For one day, August 12th, we have 24 vendors on board to provide discounts and incentives for Rosie Rally participants. 1 You may go to the City’s mobile app under the BUSINESS icon you will find a Rosie Rally icon listing the vendors and their incentives. The City of Richmond’s mobile phone app is available on the Apple App store and Google Play store. 3. A World Premiere: Richmond’s First Movies in the Plaza! th We’ve waited long enough! Join the community on August 18 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, for the world premiere of Movies in the Plaza! Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and snuggle up as Moana plays on the big screen. Come a bit early and warm up with free Zumba at 7:00 PM. Concessions will be sold (cash only), and info tables will be available. The movie starts at sunset, around 8:00 PM. 2 More more information, call: 510-620-5503 RSVP on the Movies in the Plaza Facebook event for updates! Sponsored by the Richmond Community Services Department, East Bay Regional Park District, and the Office of Mayor Tom Butt 4. Richmond Promise Update: Students Getting Ready for College & DVC Welcome Day Students are preparing to begin their first year or return to college this fall. In order to ensure that scholars are ready, Richmond Promise staff members are asking that they complete required paperwork and submit a class schedule to the Promise as soon as possible. If you have a Richmond Promise Scholar in your life, please remind them to check their email and complete these required steps. DVC Welcome Day If you know a Richmond Promise Scholar attending Diablo Valley College, please remind them that Saturday, August 12th is Welcome Day! At this event, students can meet other Richmond Promise Scholars, their new College Success Coaches, and make sure they are ready to go for the fall! Richmond Promise Cohort Welcome When: Saturday, August 12, 11:00-12:00 Where: HSF-291, Pleasant Hill Campus RSVP: www.dvcrpwelcome.eventbrite.com General DVC Welcome Day When: Saturday, August 12, 12:30-4:00 Where: Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill Campus 3 RSVP: http://www.dvc.edu/enrollment/welcome/welcomeday.html Questions or need assistance? [email protected] or 510-761-7231. 5. Chill with a Cop ~ Free Ice Cream Social in Downtown Richmond The community is cordially invited to come downtown to Chill with a Cop! No agenda, just a delicious scoop of free ice cream and great conversation with your th neighborhood beat officers on Saturday, August 19 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM in the Community Green Space at Harbour Way and Macdonald Avenue. Enjoy delicious ice cream, meet your neighborhood beat officers, learn important crime prevention tips, take home free books, and play chess. Plus: watch a Police vs. Fire chess match! Admission is free and all are welcome. The event is sponsored by Richmond Main Street, the Richmond Police Department, West Coast Chess Alliance, and Lappert’s Ice Cream. For more information: call (510) 236-4049, email [email protected], or visit www.RichmondMainStreet.org. 4 6. 13th Street Sanitary Sewer Wet Weather Capacity Project Begins While the Richmond sanitary sewer system is “out of sight; out of mind” for many residents, it is an important part of the City of Richmond being good stewards of the environment and of San Francisco Bay. As part of this effort, the City’s Department of Water Resource Recovery has initiated a project to eliminate repeat sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) during wet weather along 13th Street. These wet weather SSO locations are at the intersections of 13th Street and Costa, Rheem, and Dunn. The 13th Street sanitary sewer wet weather capacity project upsizes the sewer main along 13th Street, and replaces pipes with structural defects in the associated neighborhood. The project is funded from the recently issued wastewater revenue bonds, managed by the Veolia Capital Program Management team, and will be constructed by local contractor WR Forde. Construction began this week and will last approximately twelve months. For additional information, you can visit the project page here: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/3491/Projects 5 7. Unity Park Artists Selected The City of Richmond was previously awarded a State of California Proposition 84 grant to develop, beautify, and add amenities to the Unity Park section of the Richmond Greenway, the walking and biking trail that transects the city. The project will include two murals and two sculptures based on themes of unity and diversity. On August 2nd, six artists presented their proposals to a selection panel. Out of the six applicants, four were chosen to complete their work. These artists are sculptors Archie Held and Richard Muro; and muralists Seren Moran and Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, all of Richmond. Each of the two muralists will receive $10,000, and the two sculptors will receive $25,000 to complete the work. Budgets for the murals and sculptures will include the design, fabrication, and installation of artwork. Murals: The site of the two 80’ x 6’ murals will be across from each other at one of the main entrances to the Greenway near 16th Street/Ohio Avenue in Richmond. The artists are required to include one or more of the themes themes of unity and diversity, and must each use six community members to assist with early stages of painting. The estimated date for the mural installation is September 30, 2017. Sculptures: The site of the two sculptures will be at each of the two main entrances to the Greenway near 16th Street/Ohio Avenue in Richmond. The two sculptors will 6 also be required to include six members of the community in fabrication and installation. Archie Held’s studio is right next to the Greenway. The maximum sculpture height is between 12’ – 15’ high, and of any width that is both appropriate for the design and sturdy. One sculpture will be made out of metal, and one out of wood. Each sculpture must have a footing securing it to the site. The estimated date for the mural installation is October 31, 2017. Some themes chosen by the Unity Park community were: gardens, natural food, youth learning to grow food, multicultural/diversity images, peace among people of all colors, community participation, unity, peace, history of Richmond (railroads, shipyards, blues, Pullman cars), crime prevention, and art that promotes education. For more information contact: [email protected] . 8. City Manager Chronicles I have listed below some of the topics for meetings that I attended during the past week in the hope that it provides an idea of the varied issues with which our organization deals routinely. Meetings and events of note this past week included: • Attended the luncheon to honor Youth Ambassadors, who assisted with litter clean-up and other activities in the area around Macdonald and 23rd Street; • Met, together with Project Manager Lina Velasco and CIP Manager Yader Bermudez, and the City’s consultants, with area residents to discuss soil issues on the Greenway/Unity Park project; • Met with representatives from Mercy Housing, along with City consultants Tia Ingram and Olson Lee, to discuss the Hacienda redevelopment project; • Attended the Building and Trade Business and Construction Expo, co-hosted by the Richmond Employment and Training Department at the Richmond Auditorium, to make introductory remarks; • Attended the monthly meeting of Contra Costa County city managers; • Met, along with Port Director Jim Matzorkis, with representatives from Auto Warehousing Company (AWC) and Subaru, to discuss port activities; • Met with Stan Hakes, the Executive Director of RecycleMore, to discuss various topics; • Attended the monthly South Shoreline Community Advisory Committee that is working with the Department of Toxic Substances Control on soil remediation issues; • Attended the Love Your Block First Harvest Feast at Parchester Community Center; • Met, together with Administrative Chief Shasa Curl, with Nicole Burak, field representative for Senator Kamala Harris. 7 These meetings were in addition to attending the regular management staff meeting, agenda planning, reviewing staff reports to the City Council, doing department head “check-ins,” having discussions on various personnel matters, and having short discussions with staff, community members, members of the press, etc. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the substance of these or any other topics. 9. LEAP Launches Donation Page for Richmond Resident Scholarships LEAP, Richmond’s outstanding literacy program, is launching a donation page for Richmond resident scholarships. The LEAP Career Online-High School diploma program, (COHS) first launched in March of this year, and has proven to be a popular and successful option for the 30 enrolled Richmond residents. With three graduates to date and another dozen in the wings, all but two are on track to complete the program and receive their diploma by the end of 2018. The COHS program is a partnership between the State Library and Gail-Cengage University. The $2,200 priced program is offered at no cost to Richmond residents with scholarships that are paid for by the California State Library and a local match from the Richmond Public Library. LEAP is seeking to raise money for 15 more scholarships. To qualify, for all students must pass a pre-requisite course. The pre-requisite requires the participant to select a career, review the course work related to the career and pass the final test on the unit.