44,000 more in Contra Costa
After two years of collaboration, plan to expand Bay Area’s housing opportunities approved during public hearing, Thursday night
“The next steps are for (the 110) Bay Area cities, towns and counties to update their housing elements by January 31, 2023…and plan for housing at all income levels.” – ABAG President and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín
SAN FRANCISCO, December 17, 2021 . . . The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) at last night’s Executive Board meeting approved the Final Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Plan for the San Francisco Bay Area, 2023-2031. The state Housing and Community Development Department requires the Bay Area to plan for and revise local zoning to accommodate 441,176 additional housing units during the 2023-31 period. The approved final RHNA plan distributes this requirement among the region’s nine counties and 101 cities and towns, with allocations ranging from 72 units in the Napa County town of Yountville to more than 82,000 units in San Francisco.
The plan requires communities in Contra Costa County to add 43,970 housing units, almost 10% of the total, during the time period, with Walnut Creek (5,805 units), San Ramon (5,111) and Concord (5,073) being allocated the highest number of housing units, followed by Richmond and Antioch being allocated 3,614 and 3,016 units, respectively.
“The Final RHNA Plan’s passage concludes a two-year regional collaborative process, reflecting hundreds of hours of work by staff, elected officials and stakeholders,” noted ABAG President and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “This is an important step in our region’s efforts to address our housing crisis. Every city and county must do their part to address our housing and homelessness crises. With this RHNA Plan, local governments will have to rezone and plan for significantly more housing than before. This plan also affirmatively furthers fair housing by distributing housing growth equitably throughout the region addressing decades of racial and economic segregation. This is also part of a much bigger effort being undertaken by ABAG and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to provide resources and technical assistance to local agencies and generate new funding sources for affordable housing in the Bay Area.”
“The next steps,” Arreguín continued, “are for Bay Area cities, towns and counties to update their housing elements by January 31, 2023, to reflect the new RHNA allocations and plan for housing at all income levels. The Regional Housing Technical Assistance Program (RHTA) is ready to provide local jurisdictions with the financial support and technical assistance they need to complete these steps.”
Funded by the state’s Regional Early Action Planning grant, ABAG created RHTA to help local agencies update the housing elements of their general plans, ensuring that Bay Area cities, towns and counties take the steps to move from plans to implementation and remain competitive for various state funding programs to increase housing opportunities. RHTA includes some $11 million in direct assistance to local governments as well as other support.
The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) is another part of ABAG’s and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s expanded regional housing portfolio. “As the first regional housing finance authority in California, BAHFA has the potential to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help meet the Bay Area’s urgent housing affordability challenges,” explained Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who chairs the BAHFA Oversight Committee. “The RHNA Plan establishes the housing at each income level that Bay Area’s communities need to plan for, but BAFHA provides an opportunity to fund the solution: providing more housing for everyone in the Bay Area. This makes it an important part of the Bay Area’s housing toolbox as we work together to protect existing affordable housing, to prevent displacement of current residents and to promote the construction of more new housing units.”
ABAG is the council of governments and the regional planning agency for the 101 cities and towns, and nine counties of the Bay Area. Additional information is available on the regional housing programs’ individual webpages:
RHNA: https://abag.ca.gov/our-work/housing/rhna-regional-housing-needs-allocation
RHTA: https://abag.ca.gov/our-work/housing/regional-housing-technical-assistance
BAFHA: https://abag.ca.gov/our-work/housing/bahfa-bay-area-housing-finance-authority
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreBy Allen Payton
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office announced, last Friday, their new Neighborhood Restorative Partnership program. It is a voluntary, neighborhood-focused, restorative justice initiative addressing root causes of criminal behavior, reducing recidivism, enhancing community relationships, and promoting public safety and quality of life. The NRP is a program in which eligible individuals are given an opportunity to take responsibility and repair the harm they caused through a community-based process, instead of a courtroom.
This program is:
- A community-based pre-filing program.
- A program designed to give individuals an opportunity to take responsibility and repair harm they cause.
- And will consist of community volunteers trained as panelists to find solutions that help address the harm caused by these offenders and by focusing on restoring all who have been impacted.
U.S. DOJ Study Found “Moderate” and Lower Program Results
A U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs study, published in 2017, that “systematically reviewed all available research that, at a minimum, compared participants in a restorative justice program to participants processed traditionally by the juvenile justice system”, found that such programs had a “moderate reduction in future delinquent behavior” and the “results were smaller for the more credible random assignment studies”.
“Abstract – The distinctive feature of restorative justice programs is the objective of addressing the causes of the offender’s delinquent behavior while remedying the harms caused to the victims. A fundamental component of restorative justice programs is some form of dialog or interaction between the offender and the victim or a victim surrogate, with some programs extending participation to family and community members. Examples of restorative justice programs include victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing, and sentencing circles. Also, some routine practices of the juvenile justice system such as restitution are consistent with restorative justice principles, and some programs incorporate some aspect of the framework, such as teen courts. This systematic meta-analysis of evaluation research on restorative justice programs identified 99 publications, both published and unpublished, reporting on the results of 84 evaluations nested within the 60 unique research projects or studies. From these studies, the meta-analysis extracted results related to delinquency, non-delinquency, and outcomes for the youth and victims participating in these programs. Overall, the evaluations of restorative justice programs and practices showed a moderate reduction in future delinquent behavior relative to more traditional juvenile court processing; however, these results were smaller for the more credible random assignment studies, which raises concerns about the robustness of this overall result. Additional high-quality research of such programs is warranted, given the promising but uncertain findings. 14 tables, 30 figures, and search notes”
Questions for DA Becton & Program Coordinator
Both District Attorney Diana Becton and program coordinator and Janet Era, Assistant Investigator/Facility K9 Handler with the DA’s office, were asked the following questions about the program on Monday:
Do you have more details about the Neighborhood Restorative Partnership that you can share?
How will the community-based process work? Is it just for juveniles or adults, too?
How many panelists per neighborhood panel? When and where will the panels meet?
How can you assure an individual that is the focus of the effort will actually attend their meeting with the neighborhood panel?
What percentage of individuals assigned to such programs actually show up for their neighborhood panel meeting? If they do, what are the kinds of assignments that can be ordered by the panel for the individual to “to take responsibility and repair the harm they caused”? Who provides the enforcement to ensure the assignment is completed?
Are the assignments based on a negotiated agreement with the individual and victims?
What if there are costs involved to repair the harm they caused will the individual be required to pay those costs? What if they can’t afford to do that, will the costs be paid for by the program?
Once the assignment is completed, what happens next? Is their record expunged?
How much will the program cost?
Finally, are you aware of the US DOJ study published in 2017 showing such programs for juveniles have a moderate impact or less?
Program Coordinator Responds
In an email response received, today, Era wrote, “The Neighborhood Restorative Justice Partnership (NRP) is an adult diversion program. NRP provides an opportunity for the participant to resolve their case in the community as opposed to a courtroom, by utilizing restorative justice practices. Offenders are given an opportunity to take responsibility and repair the harm they caused through a community-based resolution process.
NRP provides an opportunity for the victim to be heard and for the community to participate in the resolution process. We anticipate three panelists per panel. Eligible cases are diverted by the District Attorney’s Office into the NRP program. While participation is voluntary, participants must be willing to take accountability for their actions that caused the harm. Each case is unique; therefore, panelists will prepare individualized obligation plans for each participant.
Upon successful completion of the program, criminal charges will not be filed. NRP will track recidivism of the participants who complete the program for a period of 24 months. We have shadowed other agencies in other counties, including Yolo County, Los Angeles City Attorney, and San Francisco County. These counties have published a high rate of success at reducing recidivism. If the individual does not complete the program, criminal charges will be filed by the District Attorney’s office.
The procedures, guidelines, and logistics for the Neighborhood Restorative Justice Partnership are still under development. Participation is voluntary and confidential. There are no program fees, however there may be costs associated with repairing the harm caused by the individual.”
Program Contact Information
If interested in becoming a panelist with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office please complete an application and send to:
Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office
Attn: Janet Era, Assistant Investigator/Facility K9 Handler
Neighborhood Restorative Partnership
900 Ward Street, 2nd Floor
Martinez, CA 94553
Click on this link for a copy of Application
Click on this link to view NRP Flyer
Read MoreBy Stephanie Fox, Navy Office of Community Outreach, Media Outreach Department
Aviation Machinist’s Mate Christian Salcedo, a native of Pittsburg, CA, is assigned to the “Black Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 4, aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability through alliances and partnerships while serving as a ready-response force in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. According to the ship’s Facebook page, the current bilateral operations in the Indian Ocean are with the Royal Australian Navy.
Homeported in San Diego, USS Carl Vinson is the third Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and one of only 11 operational aircraft carriers in the Navy today. Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard Vinson. Approximately 3,000 men and women make up the ship’s company, and they keep all parts of the aircraft carrier running. They do everything from preparing meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors. Another 2,000 sailors comprise the air wing, the people who fly and maintain the aircraft aboard the ship.
Vinson, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is designed for a 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 60 attack fighter jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which take launch and land aboard the carrier at sea.
Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship, and these same planes return to the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft. All of this makes Vinson a self-contained mobile airport and strike platform, often the first response to a global crisis because of an aircraft carrier’s ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans.
The ship was commissioned in 1982 and named after former Georgia Congressman, Carl Vinson. A member of the United States House of Representatives for 50 years, Carl Vinson was, for 29 years, the Chairman of the House Naval Affairs and Armed Services Committee. Vinson was the principal sponsor of the so-called “Vinson Acts,” culminating in the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940, which provided for the massive naval shipbuilding effort in World War II.
With more than 90 percent of all trade traveling by sea, and 95 percent of the world’s international phone and internet traffic carried through fiber optic cables lying on the ocean floor, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity and security of the United States is directly linked to a strong and ready Navy.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreFollowing is a letter I sent to Contra Costa County officials about the discriminatory and segregationist COVID mandates, with a few additions. I encourage other residents who are also fed up to join me and do the same. While there is an online form on the Contra Costa Health Services website, since there are no email addresses provided, I chose to fax my letter to the county health director, as well as the health officer who issues the mandates. I sent a similar letter to the Brentwood Mayor and City Council, City Attorney and City Manager at citycouncil@brentwood.gov; cityattorney@brentwood.gov; togden@brentwoodca.gov.
Anna Roth, RN, MS, MPH, Director
925-957-5409 fax
Chris Farnitano, MD, Health Officer
925-957-5409 fax
Diane Burgis, District 3 Supervisor
supervisor_burgis@bos.cccounty.us
This is an open letter to you all.
I am emailing you to request our county be independent from the unlawful COVID mandates and to stop the discrimination and segregation.
I believe our governor and county have grossly overreached their authority. Unequal treatment for those unvaccinated is not okay. Taking rights away from people until they agree to do what the government says isn’t giving them a “choice” It’s punishing them until they concede to their demands. Normally we would refer to this type of behavior as manipulation or abuse. The CDC says, “vaccinated people can still become infected and have the potential to spread the virus to others” This is just like the unvaccinated. The science proves everyone should be treated equal-whether that be unvaccinated or vaccinated.
Since Dec 2020 there have been 946,463 reported adverse reactions to the vaccine. That is 200,000 more than any other vaccine since 1990. Masking up has been proven not to work and actually makes you unhealthy by not allowing enough oxygen into your system. To coerce citizens into taking a procedure that may end with dire consequences in order to participate in the common everyday occurrences such as eating indoors, buying food at the movies, working out at the local gym, this is segregation pure and simple. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
Segregation and unfair treatment violats both our Bill of Rights and the International Bill of Rights.
Fourth Amendment – “The right of the people to be secure in their persons”.
Fifth Amendment – “No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…
Article 5 – International Bill of Rights – “No person shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.”
These unfair mandates have discriminated against me, my family and others in the community. The unkind comments while shopping at a local store, the staring, the learing, the blocking of shopping. Being shamed in public by community members just for living our lives. Being asked to leave a place of business. The threat of arrest and fines is despicable.
Having our city and county representatives pushing vaccines on the community and being told through social media we must do this to support our neighbors. This is segregation .. again. Being ostracized for not complying goes against our rights as citizens.
This is a pure example of the government overreach. I am demanding the county end these mandates! Let us choose. Give us what America was founded on…freedom.
We look forward to hearing from you all in hopes to stop this gross overreach of authority by our governor, county, etc.
Thank you,
Eileen Erickson
Brentwood
Read MoreDonations requested to help displaced families
By City of Brentwood
On December 3, 2021, a fire broke out at a low-income apartment complex on Broderick Drive in Brentwood. Eleven households including multiple families were displaced, and many lost all but the shirts on their backs. None were hurt, but the ongoing need to get them back on their feet is great. American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region was on scene and assisted with immediate financial assistance, blankets, and toiletries. Other non-profits have stepped up with donations for food and clothing in the short term.
Helping these families, many including young children, with getting reestablished in homes and back to some sense of normalcy, is something the community can continue to assist with. The City of Brentwood is grateful for the partnerships with agencies including the Red Cross, Monument Crisis Center, Monument Impact, Hijas del Campo, Meals on Wheels Diablo Region, Delta Community Services, Brentwood Lions, Village Community Resource Center, East Contra Costa Community Alliance and others pending more information, that have all shown great compassion in meeting the immediate needs with food, clothing, shelter, gift cards, and counseling. We invite others in the community to contribute beyond this short-term assistance.
Brentwood business owners Miguel Saldana and Gio Covarrubias, from Azucar Candies and More, have been instrumental with their immediate response. “As business owners, our commitment is not just to sell products and provide good customer service, it is also to help community members in situations of misfortune. Our customers are friends who are part of our family, and a united community can overcome any misfortune,” Miguel said.
Other immediate and significant response has come from local non-profit Hijas del Campo and residents like Nikki Pryor, who provided food, clothing, and other donations the day of the fire.
Interested businesses, non-profits and individuals can donate online through an established and trusted fiscal manager in Monument Crisis Center where all funds donated will go into a restricted fund designated specifically for these tenants. Visit their donation website at: https://monumentcrisiscenter.org/donate-now, and scroll down to a dropdown menu from “I would like to donate to” selecting the Brentwood Fire Victims option. You can also text MCC to 41-444 and it will route to the same page to make a donation.
To donate by check, make it payable to Monument Crisis Center: Brentwood Fire Victims. Checks can be mailed to P.O. BOX 23973, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. Again, all funds will go into a restricted account for these tenants. No donations of goods can be accepted at Monument Crisis Center – please donate online or via check only.
The American Red Cross suggests that the donations of food, clothing and other household items at this phase of a fire recovery may not be as helpful due to the issues related to collection, storage, and distribution of those items. A direct financial donation to a trusted source, including gift cards, is best. If gift cards are donated, they can be dropped off with Miguel Saldana at Azucar Candies & More located at 7860 Brentwood Blvd, Brentwood, CA.
District 3 Councilwoman Susannah Meyer jumped in immediately upon hearing of the issue, and reached out to her numerous non-profit contacts to assist.
“The response to this tragedy has been overwhelming and wonderful. Every day since the fire we have heard from more agencies and individuals who want to help,” Meyer said. “This is a perfect example of how our community members look out for each other in a time of need. Brentwood has gone above and beyond, and all of us involved could not be more grateful.”
The holiday season is a time of fellowship and giving. We appreciate the Brentwood community for their engagement and encourage all to help where they can and spread the word about this opportunity to donate in support of these residents. The need is great, but we are coming together and making a difference in the lives of our residents in need.
Read MoreMakes permanent position for Interim Public Defender after 20 years with the department; will earn $433,641 in annual salary and benefits
By Allen Payton
As previously reported, during their final meeting of the year on Tuesday, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors promoted Interim Public Defender Ellen McDonnell as Contra Costa Public Defender at an annual salary of $340,510 in addition to $93,131 in pension annual compensation. She will officially take over the role of Public Defender from the retiring Robin Lipetzky effective Jan. 1, 2022.
She started with the department in 2001 and will oversee a $36 million budget and 145 employees.
McDonnell holds a Juris Doctors degree from California Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree and double major in Spanish and Italian from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
She has been a member of the California State Bar since 2011.
When reached for comment District 1 Supervisor John Gioia showered praise on the county’s new public defender.
“Ellen has been at the department for several years, so, it’s great to elevate to the top position someone who has worked their way up in the department,” he said. “She understands the issues, has support of her staff and will be a great public defender.”
“Ellen understands the constitutional balance in our system, for those who are accused, so innocent people aren’t convicted,” Gioia continued. “She has been very involved in re-entry solutions. She and the department have helped individuals successfully, and safely, return to housing and employment, which lowers the chance of repeating offenses and keeps the community safer.”
McDonnell had been serving as the Interim Public Defender for Contra Costa County since August, she shared. According to the Contra Costa Public Defenders’ website, during her two decades at CCPD, Ellen has specialized in representing clients in serious felony cases, been the public face of the office throughout the community and the local criminal court system, and led a dramatic expansion in innovative and holistic defense programs. Most recently, as Chief Assistant, she managed CCPD’s operations and oversaw the office’s divisions. As Interim Public Defender, Ellen stewards the office’s commitment to client advocacy, high-quality litigation, and holistic defense.
“I’m so honored to have been appointed by the Board of Supervisors with the recommendation of County Administrator Monica Nino,” McDonnell said. “I am thankful for their leadership and the trust that they’re placing in me with this appointment.”
“I’m excited to continue to lead an office of highly skilled and talented attorneys, investigators, social workers, legal assistants and clerical staff, and continue to serve the community of Contra Costa,” she continued.
“The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to vigorously defend our clients at all stages of the criminal justice process,” McDonnell shared. “A core part of our mission is also to bring our clients back into the community with support that leads to better outcomes for those we represent, their families and the community at large. We do that by connecting our clients with community-based solutions for housing, employment, healthcare and mental health resources.”
“When we look at the whole person in stabilizing individuals, we play a critical role in contributing to public safety,” she concluded. “Our office will remain committed to addressing racial disparities in the local criminal legal system and implementing new, needed, legal reforms.”
Since becoming interim public defender, McDonnell has been and will continue serving on the county’s Racial Justice Oversight Body which focuses on that commitment.
Ellen joined CCPD in 2001 after receiving her Juris Doctorate from UC Hastings College of Law, where she was a member of the Hastings Law Review. She represented clients with misdemeanors and felony cases, and has tried numerous homicide and life cases. Ellen is a skilled trial attorney and a fierce advocate, especially for those suffering from mental health conditions.
Ellen led the expansion of CCPD’s Clean Slate program and spearheaded community outreach efforts in response to the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014. Ellen coordinated and led numerous Clean Slate Day community events. She collaborated with justice system stakeholders and community-based organizations in order to assist thousands of community members in clearing their records and providing a path to rehabilitation.
Ellen has been at the forefront of implementing legislated criminal justice reforms in the Contra Costa legal system, including Prop 47, Prop 64, Felony Murder Reform, and Bail Reform. Through Ellen’s leadership, Contra Costa County has seen a reduction of incarceration rates, improved sentence equity, the minimization of court-imposed debt, and the elimination of barriers for impacted people.
Ellen has also collaborated with local groups working towards a more just and safer Contra Costa. These include the county’s Pretrial Services work group, Contra Costa LEAD diversion Local Advisory Committee (LAC), the Prerelease Planning work group, the Smart Reentry Task Force, the Alliance to End Abuse Core Project Team, and the Steering Committee for the Reentry Success Center.
Ellen helmed CCPD’s holistic defense approach. She expanded the scope and reach of the office’s services through grant funded programs, garnering state and federal recognition as a model for other defender organizations. In 2016, Ellen became the supervisor of the office’s reentry programs unit, managing CCPD’s AB109 budget and securing philanthropic and governmental funding for reentry services. Ellen also launched the Early Representation Program (EarlyRep) dedicated to preventing failures to appear in court and diverting cases from the criminal justice system. EarlyRep was awarded the Defender Program of Year by the California Public Defender Association in 2019.
Ellen secured funding to launch the Holistic Intervention Partnership (HIP), a collaborative public-private partnership which offers intensive case management, funding for housing services, and other critical resources to those impacted by our criminal legal system. CCPD was one of only two Public Defender’s Offices in the state to receive Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding for innovation in indigent defense.
Ellen is regularly invited to speak about holistic defense and implementing criminal justice reforms. She has presented to many groups including the California Judicial Council, the US Department of Justice, National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) Chief Defender Council, and the American Society of Criminology.
Ellen was appointed by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court to the Judicial Council’s Price of Justice Initiative: Ability to Pay Workgroup, the Futures Traffic Workgroup, and the Traffic Advisory Committee. She was also appointed as a member of the Executive Steering Committee of the State Board of Community Corrections tasked with making recommendations for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) funding.
Ellen, who grew up in West Virginia and Florida, is a resident of Walnut Creek, where she lives with her husband and two children. Ellen speaks fluent Spanish, and she is proud to be a lifelong Contra Costa Public Defender.
Dan Borsuk contributed to this report.
Read MoreWill provide garage, medical clinical office, and expanded radiology lab at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez; following crackdown, one restaurant still violating COVID-19 health orders as cases in county increase; appoint new Public Defender, will earn $433,641 in pay and benefits
“If you want to send me an email and still want to call me a ‘b***’ go ahead.” – Supervisor Karen Mitchoff in response to critics of her crusade to crack down on restaurants out of compliance with county health orders
By Daniel Borsuk
On a 4-0 vote, during their final meeting of the year on Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors paved the way for officials of the over-used Contra Costa Regional Medical Center to spend $75 million of Measure X half-cent sales tax funds to construct a parking garage, a medical office complex and a state-of-the-art public health laboratory at Tuesday’s final board meeting of the year. (See CCRMC Proposed Master Plan) CCRMC Measure X funding presentation CCCBOS121421
With Board Chair Diane Burgis absent because of the death of her husband Richard Clayton for whom supervisors adjourned the meeting in honor of, supervisors narrowly met the super-majority requirement to tap into 2020 vote-approved sales tax measure revenues for the purpose of enhancing facilities at the over-used medical complex in Martinez.
Contra Costa Public Health Director Anna Roth pitched the three CCRMC capital improvement projects based on the fact the publicly funded medical center in the past year has treated 142,000 patients due to COVID-19, a 540 percent increase. The center has saved the lives of about 26,000 county residents, 70 percent of whom are on Medi-Cal. Seventy percent of the CCRMC patients do not speak English, Roth noted.
She said the medical center has been crushed with a 540 percent increase in patients seeking medical care over the past 20 years while the physical components of the medical center have been unchanged. Roth also shared there has been at least one case where a pregnant woman had safely delivered her baby in the medical center parking lot because of the unavailability of parking. According to the presentation, three babies were born in the parking lot during the last year. The proposed 325-space parking structure along with valet parking would help alleviate the parking problem, she asserted.
Marianna Moore, chair of the board of supervisors’ appointed Measure X Advisory Committee, cast concern that the supervisors’ action on the medical center capital projects might be premature and negatively hit future Measure X funding of other public services.
“This is a one-time expenditure,” responded District 4 Supervisor Karen Mitchoff of Pleasant Hill. “There will be money for other projects. The longer we delay on capital improvement projects like these the more expensive it becomes.”
Upon acknowledging Measure X chairperson Moore’s comments, District 1 Supervisor John Gioia remarked “I hear the concerns of the Measure X panel for this board to be transparent and open.” Yet, he pointed out how three major local nonprofit health providers – Kaiser Permanente, John Muir and Sutter Medical – skirt regulations that county-operated medical institutions must obey.
“They get an equity worth $25 billion in tax breaks and don’t have to encounter public scrutiny that publicly operated health care operations like Contra Costa County’s have to abide by. I am proud of the public health successes in Contra Costa County, but we need help from the nonprofit health care organizations too.”
In addition to the proposed parking garage, the supervisors’ action paves the way for the medical center to have a $30 million 40,000 square foot medical-clinical office building constructed and a $5 million 5,000 square foot state-of-the-art intervention radiology suite built.
One Restaurant Remains Out of Compliance With COVID-19 Health Order, Mitchoff on the Defense
In a follow up to last week’s meeting where Supervisor Mitchoff questioned the Health Department’s code enforcement capabilities in shutting down 13 restaurants willfully out of health code compliance, Roth announced there is currently only one eatery that is still not following health code requirements.
She did not identify the business. “All but one of the establishments are now in compliance,” said Roth.
Roth said her department has added four code enforcement officers since last week when Mitchoff blew the lid off the health department’s health code performance.
“I appreciate the progress the health department has made,” said Mitchoff. “There is still one restaurant to follow up on. One restaurant will probably have to close.”
Mitchoff, who will serve as board chair next year instead of vice chair Federal Glover of Pittsburg in recognition of her public service as she has announced she won’t seek reelection in 2022, attacked her critics on her crusade to shut down out-of-compliance restaurants.
“There’s recently been vitriolic and unclear language and comments lodged at me,” said Mitchoff, whose been a frequent target of hate emails. “If you want to send me an email and still want to call me a ‘b***’ go ahead. It would be much better if those who dislike me to write letters and that everyone gets vaccinated and wears masks. I hope to start the new year with much more appreciated language.”
County COVID-19 Cases Increase
In the meantime, Roth said Contra Costa County’s vaccination rate of 76.8 percent remains above the national average of 69.9 percent.
The county’s active COVID-19 case load stands at 1,463, an increase of 18.9 percent over a two-week period. Forty-three patients were in hospitals in the county because of COVID-19.
“Ninety-seven percent of the cases in Contra Costa County are of the Delta strain,” remarked Roth. She said there have been signs of the new Omicron variant appearing in wastewater in the county, but nowhere else.
Because of wintertime conditions forcing Californians to hunker down indoors, Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano informed supervisors the State was expected to announce a new indoor public face mask order. The order would be in place through Jan. 15, 2022.
In a related action, supervisors adopted an ordinance calling for the continuation of remotely conducted meetings into January 2022. The ordinance also applies to commissions and advisory committees.
Ordinance Temporarily Halts North Richmond Fulfillment Center Openings
In response to increasing vehicle emission air pollution and traffic-pedestrian safety concerns issues stemming from the buildup of fulfillment centers in the unincorporated North Richmond and Richmond areas, supervisors imposed a 45-day moratorium on the opening of new fulfillment centers.
“Richmond and North Richmond have become a major destination for fulfillment centers,” said Supervisor Gioia, whose District 1 cover those areas. “We don’t want North Richmond to become a wall-to-wall fulfillment center magnet.”
The purpose of the ordinance Gioia has introduced is to compel these enterprises to deliver their products with electric vehicles. It aims to have 33 percent of a company’s fleet of vehicles electrified immediately and by 2027 100 percent of a business’s fleet of vehicles must be electrified.
At least five fulfillment centers are either under construction or planning phase, said John Kopchick, director of the Contra Costa County Conservation and Development Department.
No one from the fulfillment center sector spoke on the ordinance regulating the electrification of vehicle fleets, but Donald Gilmore of North Richmond Recreation said the ordinance does not go far enough.
“North Richmond is significantly impacted by these warehouses and the traffic coming from them. Pedestrian safety is a pressing problem. We need more time to figure out a plan,” said Gilmore.
Appoint New Public Defender, Will Earn $433,641 in Pay and Benefits
Supervisors promoted Deputy Public Defender Ellen McDonnell as Contra Costa Public Defender at an annual salary of $340,510 in addition to a $93,131 in pension annual compensation. She will officially take over the role of Public Defender from the retiring Robin Lipetzky effective Jan. 1, 2022.
She started with the department in 2001 and will oversee a $36 million budget and 145 employees.
McDonnell holds a Juris Doctorate degree from California Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree and double major in Spanish and Italian from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
She has been a member of the California State Bar since 2011. (Read more about McDonnell in a separate article.)
Read MoreThe International Hospital Foundation recognizes Kaiser Permanente Northern California with the Autsco Excellence Award for Quality and Patient Safety
By Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
OAKLAND, Calif., – An early detection system that helps care teams predict when Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s hospitalized patients are at risk for clinical deterioration was recognized by the International Hospital Foundation with the Autsco Excellence Award for Quality and Patient Safety.
Kaiser Permanente Northern California received the Gold Award, the highest level possible, for its Advance Alert Monitor (AAM) program, which is in place at all 21 Northern California hospitals. The program is a sophisticated monitoring system that analyzes electronic hospital patient data to identify those at risk of deteriorating and alerts a specialized team of virtual nurses who determine if on-site intervention is needed. The nurses contact a rapid response team, which perform an assessment, and then work with the care team and the patient and/or family to develop a patient-centered treatment plan.
AAM predicts the probability that hospitalized patients are likely to decline, require transfer to the intensive care unit or emergency resuscitation, and benefit from interventions. Early warnings could be helpful for patients at risk of deterioration where intervention may improve outcomes.
An analysis of the program in a recent publication of the New England Journal of Medicine showed outcomes associated with lower hospital mortality, a lower incidence of ICU admission, and a shorter length of stay in the hospital.
“This program reflects our commitment to providing the safest care possible by using technology in the hands of our expert care teams to identify those patients who need immediate attention,” said Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region. “Because of this program, we are saving lives and providing the high-quality, exceptional care our patients and families deserve.”
The vital signs of Kaiser Permanente patient Erin Fowler-Jones of Pacifica triggered her to be included in the Advance Alert Monitor program when she was hospitalized last month after developing complications from foot surgery. She said she only knew that nurses were always rounding on her, making sure she was receiving the care she needed to recover.
“Staff was constantly monitoring me, which was a huge comfort,” said Fowler-Jones, a retired Kaiser Permanente nurse. “I had no idea I had been flagged for a special monitor program. I just knew that I was getting good care and safe care.”
The 2021 International Hospital Foundation Awards were revealed during the 44th World Hospital Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The IHF Awards celebrate and recognize hospitals and health care organizations with demonstrable excellence, innovations, and outstanding achievements in the health care industry. This year 250 entries were submitted from more than 38 countries/territories – a record since the awards were established in 2015.
Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s monitoring program was heralded as an example of how hospitals are committed to providing high-quality care and patient safety. The success of the program has reached other health care systems, which are inquiring about implementing it in their hospitals.
“This program demonstrates our expertise in using a predictive algorithm and standardized response workflow to provide the best care possible to our patients,” said Dr. Vanessa Martinez, DNP, MHA, RN, who is the Director of Virtual Nursing Care at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “This innovative program is a major step forward in making sure our hospitals are the safest in the world and ensuring our patients are well-cared for as we focus on identifying problems, intervening early, and providing the appropriate medical treatment.”
Read MoreBy Contra Costa Health Services
A new statewide masking order now requires everyone to wear masks in indoor public spaces regardless of their vaccination through Jan. 15, 2022. Since Contra Costa already has a local masking order in place, the new statewide masking mandate doesn’t affect us – and we will retain limited exceptions for certain indoor settings not open to the general public such as offices and gyms where everyone is vaccinated.
People in Contra Costa, regardless of vaccination status, will have to keep wearing face coverings in public settings as they have been doing since August.
While cases in Contra Costa have gone up since Thanksgiving, the county has one of the highest vaccination rates in California and hospitalizations are far below levels seen during the past summer and lower than in many other counties.
“The limited exceptions we made are for very low-risk scenarios where everyone is vaccinated,” said Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano. “Our community already understands and is following these rules and it would be confusing to change them for just one month.”
Contra Costa’s indoor-masking order will stay in place unless the county meets criteria for lifting the local mandate. The order is as follows:
The counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma and the City of Berkeley will lift the indoor masking requirement in public spaces not subject to state and federal masking rules when all the following occur:
- The jurisdiction reaches the moderate (yellow) COVID-19 transmission tier, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and remains there for at least three weeks;
AND - COVID-19 hospitalizations in the jurisdiction are low and stable, in the judgment of the health officer
AND - 80% of the jurisdiction’s total population is fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson (booster doses not considered) OR Eight weeks have passed since a COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by federal and state authorities for 5- to 11-year-olds
To see our progress for meeting those criteria, visit our Indoor Mask Mandate Dashboard.
Read MoreTo Remember, Honor, Teach about veterans dating back to the Civil War
Union Cemetery in Byron, an official Wreaths Across America (WAA) location, will host a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 18, joining more than 2,800 other locations across the country. The public is invited to join military and local dignitaries, veterans, active service members and their families for the ceremony and the following laying of the wreaths.
Coordinated and led by Byron Delta Lions Club and the Anne Loucks Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, these groups are raising funds to sponsor the placement of close to 600 veterans’ wreaths on the headstones of our fallen service members laid to rest there.
Union Cemetery has been at its current location since 1878. Veterans dating back to the Civil War will be remembered.
This year, National Wreaths Across America Day is Saturday, December 18, 2021, beginning at 9 a.m. The free event is open to all people. Attendees are asked to wear a mask.
To sponsor one or more wreaths, visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.
Union Cemetery is located at 11545 Brentwood Blvd. in Byron.
About Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states, at sea and abroad.
About Union Cemetery
The Union Cemetery is owned and operated by the Byron-Brentwood-Knightsen Union Cemetery District, a property tax and fee-supported agency that provides efficient and dignified burial services, year-round maintenance, and preservation of interment plots. Interments are restricted to residents who pay taxes into the Cemetery District boundaries. It is governed by a three-person Board of Trustees appointed by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
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