By Scott Alonso, Public Information Officer, Office of the District Attorney, Contra Costa County
Martinez, Calif. – On Tuesday, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton announces a $1,498,750 settlement against New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (“Bed Bath & Beyond”) as part of a settlement of a civil environmental prosecution.
The judgment is the culmination of a civil enforcement lawsuit filed last month in Ventura County Superior Court claiming that more than 200 Bed Bath & Beyond stores throughout the state (including Cost Plus, buybuy BABY, Harmon, Harmon Face Values, World Market, and Cost Plus World Market stores) unlawfully handled, transported and disposed of batteries, electronic devices, ignitable liquids, aerosol products, cleaning agents, and other flammable, reactive, toxic, and corrosive materials, at local landfills that were not permitted to receive those wastes.
“The protection of our environment and public health is always a top priority. This settlement acts as a deterrent to other companies as non-compliant companies will be held accountable for violating our environmental laws,” stated DA Becton.
The investigation was initiated by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office after a fire broke out on December 24, 2015 at the City of Oxnard’s Del Norte Transfer Facility in a load of store waste from the trash compactor of the Oxnard Bed Bath and Beyond store. The bagged store waste burst into flames when a city employee used a front-end loader to spread the freshly dumped trash pile. Investigation recovered numerous items of regulated waste, including several electronic items and hazardous waste, including lithium batteries and a small can of lighter fluid.
Following these Ventura County events, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office worked in conjunction with 30 other California District Attorneys, and the Los Angeles City Attorney, and local environmental regulatory officials to conduct a series of undercover inspections of Bed Bath & Beyond store waste around the state. These inspections, and other investigation, revealed that Bed Bath & Beyond sending regulated hazardous wastes from stores to local landfills throughout California.
When notified of the investigation, Bed Bath and Beyond took steps to cooperate and to dedicate additional resources towards environmental compliance and improving its existing regulated-waste management program, including by performing regular self-audits of its compactors and waste bins in California.
Under the final judgment, Bed Bath & Beyond must pay $1,327,500 in civil penalties and as reimbursement of investigation and prosecution costs, of which $124,000 will be paid to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, $16,400,to the Contra Costa County, Health Services Dept., Hazardous Materials Program. The company will pay an additional $171,250 to fund supplemental environmental projects furthering environmental enforcement in California. The retailer will also be bound under the terms of a permanent injunction prohibiting similar future violations of law.
Read MoreIn response to Tuesday night’s Brentwood City Council discussion on forming a new Lighting and Landscaping Assessment District (LLAD) to maintain entrances to the Deer Ridge neighborhood and former golf course property, candidate for Brentwood City Council District 3, Indrani Golden issued the following solutions for both that land and the Shadow Lakes golf course property. She wants to ensure the land is maintained and does not negatively affect the property values of homeowners in the adjacent neighborhoods. Deer Ridge Landscaping 2020-10-27 BCC mtg
“There are a variety of options,” Golden said. “At a minimum and for now, the city needs to require the former golf course owners to maintain their land, which is currently not happening. The city is issuing fines, which can be converted into liens.”
The city is currently working with the landowners to purchase the frontage entrance to Deer Ridge and 13 park strips. But the residents must first vote to form the new LLAD and assess themselves over $500,000 to be paid back over 10 years. In addition, Shadow Lakes owners said they will maintain nine golf holes, and they have remodeled the golf club, and will remove the barriers. Following are Golden’s five alternative solutions to the unsightly, weed-filled dry grass, barriers and closed cart paths.
Option 1 – The second option is to have the City also maintain the cart paths as walking trails and obtain easements from the landowners, while they keep ownership of the land.
Option 2 -The homeowners of Deer Ridge and Shadow Lakes can form assessment districts to purchase all the golf course land, in their respective neighborhoods, from the property owners and pay the City to maintain it, and allow the cart paths to be used for walking trails. That requires the owners to sell their land which they currently aren’t interested in because of the loans owed on the property.
Option 3 – The landowners can deed their property over to the City to create parks and maintain them out of the City’s General Fund. But the council will have to determine how to cover those costs. Again, that’s unlikely due to the loans on the property.
Option 4 – The landowners can reopen one 18-hole golf course on the entire property.
Option 5 – “But, if that can’t happen my favorite option is to have the land be used as mitigation by other developers who must be required, for every acre they develop in Brentwood, to purchase two acres of the land from the current landowners of the former Shadow Lakes and Deer Ridge golf course, and deed the land to the City for permanent open space,” Golden stated.
For more information about Indrani Golden, email her at indrani@goldenbrentwood.com, call her at (925) 204-9511 or visit her website at www.goldenbrentwood.com.
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Publisher’s Note: This is in response to an Op-Ed published on August 28. There have been challenges with our email account info@contracostaherald.com and although sent on Sept. 4 this Op-Ed was not seen until recently. For both the Contra Costa Herald and Antioch Herald, please for now, use editor@antiochherald to submit letters to the editor or opinion pieces. Thank you and apologies for any inconvenience.
Joshua Anijar says the Bay Area “deserves leadership that doesn’t divide us” (Op-ed, Aug. 28).
But as executive director of Contra Costa County’s AFL-CIO Labor Council, Anijar’s stock in trade is division. In the present case, that involves a cynical campaign to replace BART-Board incumbent Director Debora Allen in BART’s District One (South County and much of Central County).
Allen has been a voice of fiscal and regulatory sanity on the nine-member BART Board. So she’s appreciated by sensible BART passengers and attentive citizens at large whose taxes subsidize BART operations and capital projects — but not by Anijar and some other special-interest activists.
Allen’s rationality is particularly needed during the time of COVID-19 restrictions and outright shutdowns. As she wrote in July, BART has lost 88 percent of its ridership during the pandemic, with a resultant $35 million drop per month in farebox revenue.
But over Allen’s objections, the BART Board majority’s new budget foolishly increases operating expenses by 6 percent anyway, including a $32.5 million labor-cost increase.
Anijar’s breezy reference to “400,000 trips per day” represents merely an historical artifact; present reality is only 48,000 trips per day. Allen speaks for the grownup position: “BART’s failure to cut operating expenses will continue to worsen its grave financial condition and cause irreparable harm to the long-term sustainability of the system.”
Last year, following the fatal stabbing of a BART passenger, Allen wrote about BART’s obligation to insure safety on the system’s trains and in its stations. She noted insufficient police presence, rampant fare evasion, and aggressive panhandling as contributing factors in a widespread perception of unsafe conditions.
The 2018-19 Alameda County Civil Grand Jury documented similar concerns: “Violent crime on BART, including robberies and aggravated assaults, increased by 115% over the last five years…. Rider satisfaction with BART fell from a high of 84% in 2012 to a low of 56% in 2018…. [S]ince at least 2012, cleanliness has been a top concern for riders who responded to the survey.”
The Grand Jury report continued: “Respondents… cite ‘personal security in BART system’ as the second largest service rating decline…, just after fare evasion. Lack of visible police presence on trains and in stations has long been a concern of riders…. News reports of the three homicides in July 2018 and video in October 2018 of a man swinging two chain saws while riding BART reinforced worries among Bay Area residents about their safety on BART.”
So, Anijar’s assertion that Debora Allen’s Bart Board record “shows her to be unresponsive to public wishes and hostile to public input” is false. And her real-world track record is exemplary, not “shameful.”
Anijar’s primary interest, meanwhile, is presumably the next round of increases in BART-employee salaries, current benefits, and pensions. As is, nearly 1,000 BART employees receive total annual compensation already exceeding $200,000 (2019 figures, available at TransparentCalifornia.com).
Anijar has been busy on another front as well. He’s a principal coordinator and ballot-argument signer for Measure X, a regressive half-percent sales-tax increase for all of Contra Costa County, lasting 20 years, at a time of pandemic-driven financial distress for much of the County’s population.
The measure, appearing on this November ballot, advertises specific purposes — but it’s framed officially as a general tax instead, “solely for general governmental purposes and not for specific purposes.”
Representatives of County employee organizations demanded such a tax measure 15 months ago. And as a general tax, its proceeds could be used to “free up” current general-fund expenditures to pay for compensation increases, while backfilling the general fund with new Measure X dollars.
Arata is a co-founder of the Alliance of Contra Costa Taxpayers, and a signatory to ballot arguments opposing Measure X.
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Indoor swimming pools can reopen; bars can reopen outdoors; live entertainment for up to 50 people (requires pre-approval), more
By Contra Costa Health Services
More businesses and community activities can reopen beginning today in Contra Costa after the county’s data indicators for COVID-19 transmission showed improvement in October.
California today reassigned Contra Costa to the less-restrictive orange tier of its Blueprint for a Safer Economy, allowing for larger local gatherings for indoor worship services and dining, and the reopening of indoor pools, bars and bowling alleys.
But health officials caution that it is now more important than ever to follow the state health guidance for physical distancing and use of face coverings, to keep everyone safe and healthy during the holiday season and to avoid a return to the red tier.
Contra Costa’s adjusted per-capita case rate – the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases identified in the county per 100,000 population – stood at 3.7 on Tuesday, just qualifying the county to move into the orange tier.
The average daily percentage of COVID-19 tests that return positive in the county is 1.9%, with 4.9% or lower qualifying for the orange tier. That number for census tracts identified by the state’s health equity metric was 3.9% today, with 5.2% required for the orange tier.
Counties in the orange tier can allow:
- Worship services and other cultural activities indoors at 50% occupancy or 200 people, whichever is fewer;
- Indoor dining at 50% occupancy or 200 people, whichever is fewer;
- Indoor swimming pools;
- Bars and other businesses that sell alcohol without meals to open for outdoor operation;
- Family entertainment centers to open indoors for “naturally distanced” activities, such as bowling alleys, escape rooms and climbing-wall gyms, at 25% occupancy;
- Cardrooms to open indoors at 25% occupancy;
- Small amusement parks to open at 25% of occupancy or 500 people, whichever is fewer;
- Professional sports venues to open at 20% occupancy;
- Live entertainment to open with no more than 50 people, if approved by the Health Officer.
The county will remain in the orange tier for at least two weeks. The state could move Contra Costa into the less-restrictive yellow tier, or the more restrictive red tier, if its metrics qualify for one of those tiers for two consecutive weeks. The state updates the official numbers every Tuesday.
To reduce the spread of the virus in Contra Costa County, and to continue its progress toward reopening, county leaders urge the public to get tested for COVID-19 regularly, including people who have no symptoms of illness.
Contra Costa would not have qualified for the orange tier this week had it not tested more residents than the state average. California adjusts the case rates of high-testing counties downward to reflect their work controlling the virus. Without that adjustment, Contra Costa’s per-capita case rate this week would have been 4.1, which would not qualify for the orange tier.
Following the heath guidance for physical distancing and face coverings, practicing good hand hygiene and staying home when you feel sick are also key to continuing Contra Costa’s progress against the pandemic.
About 3,500 people get tested every day for COVID-19 in Contra Costa. By ramping up to test at least 4,500 daily, the county can more quickly notify those infected – particularly people with the virus who do not have symptoms – to prevent outbreaks and better protect community members at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 because of their age or health.
Contra Costa recommends that workers in jobs that bring them in frequent contact with the public, including all essential workers, consider a COVID-19 test every 30 days. Anyone who has symptoms such as fever, cough or difficulty breathing should also consider a test.
Call 1-844-421-0804 to schedule a fast, free COVID-19 test in Contra Costa, or visit cchealth.org/coronavirus to schedule online.
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“In the interests of transparency” – Chief Assistant County Administrator Eric Angstadt
“The difference is primarily due to the below market purchase price” – from the appraisal
“This is a classic example of a gift of public funds” – County Assessor Gus Kramer
By Allen Payton
After learning that the county’s outside appraisal for the Motel 6 in Pittsburg was $16.7 million, and the purchase price offered by the Board of Supervisors of $17.4 million, was only 4.2% higher, it was learned today that the same motel sold for just $12 million in February 2019. In addition, it was assessed on January 1st, this year slightly higher at $12,226,480. After requesting a copy of the appraisal since last week, the County Counsel’s office released it, today “in the interests of transparency.” The appraisal shows last year’s “purchase price was modified to $13,200,000.” (See related article)
Asked for copies of what was believed to be both internal and outside contract appraisals from the Public Works Department Real Estate Division, Chief Assistant County Administrator Eric Angstadt responded, “I’m only aware of one appraisal. It was contracted out. I can give you what the topline is, but the appraisal is not available until after escrow closes.”
“The appraised value is $16.7 million at $96,000 per room,” he stated. “It’s 4.2% above the appraised value.”
Asked if the appraisal was done internally or contracted out, Angstadt said, “We always contract out appraisals. We have staff with real estate licenses. But I don’t believe we have any licensed appraisers on staff.”
“The state was very public about how much they were willing to pay, at $100,000 per room,” he continued. “So, it didn’t leave us with much room to negotiate.”
“We have not signed the purchase and sale agreement, yet. That will happen once we finish the due diligence. We are working our way through all of it. It’s scheduled to close escrow on November 10th,” Angstadt added.
However, Angstadt released the appraisal to the Herald, today after obtaining permission from the County Counsel’s office. It was done by West Hollywood-based HVS Consulting & Valuation, a Division of TS Worldwide, LLC which, according to their website, provides highly credible hotel valuations and appraisals.” (See page 13) HVS Appraisal – FINAL – Motel 6 – Pittsburg CA – 09
The sale price for the 41-year-old motel was $68,000 per room, last year.
In a search of the Assessor’s Parcel number for the property, which is 088-152-039 on the ParcelQuest Lite website, a link to which can be found on the Contra Costa County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s webpage and which any member of the public, county staff, Board of Supervisors and any appraiser can do, it provides the details of last year’s sale and this year’s valuation.
The closest comparable sale was the Ramada Inn, now Comfort Inn, in Antioch which sold in March 2017 for $50,000 per room. That’s a much higher end hotel than the Motel 6. Another comparable property, the Marina Bay Inn & Suites on Cutting Blvd. in Richmond near Pt. Richmond sold in August 2017 for $80,000 per room, and that’s in an area considered nicer than where the Motel 6 is located in Pittsburg.
“The real comparable sale is the property itself,” said County Assessor Gus Kramer, who has been an outspoken critic of the county’s purchase of the motel. (See related article)
“Did the appraiser back into the state’s and county’s number?” he asked. “How can the appraiser say the value of the motel increased in the last year by 45%? No property in the county has increased in value that much during that time.”
Asked when the property was assessed this year, Kramer said his staff did that on January 1st.
“This is a classic example of a gift of public funds,” he stated. “Just because the state is giving us this amount of money doesn’t mean we need to spend that much.”
“This is why local government is in trouble,” Kramer continued. “It’s not that they don’t have enough money it’s that they don’t manage what they have, well.”
An email was sent to all members of the Board of Supervisors, County Administrator David Twa and Angstadt asking them why there is such a difference in the value arrived at by the county’s contract appraiser as well as the offer price, and last year’s sale price and this year’s assessed valuation. They were also asked to confirm that the property in the online search was in fact the Motel 6, since it has the same address and the photo of it appears to be the motel. In addition, they were asked why the appraiser didn’t take into account the sale and assessed value for the motel and if they will now seek a second appraisal.
Text messages were also sent to Supervisors Federal Glover, in whose district the motel is located, Diane Burgis and Board Chair Candace Andersen informing them of the difference in appraised value and assessed valuation and to please check their emails.
The Board was holding a special closed session meeting, today beginning at 9 a.m. to discuss both Kramer’s lawsuit against the Board over allegations of violations of the state’s Brown Act open meeting law, as well as potential candidates to replace Twa who is retiring, this year.
The email and texts were sent between 11:08 and 11:10 AM Wednesday morning and the recipients were given a deadline of 1:00 p.m. to respond.
Angstadt responded with, “The appraisal does include a discussion and analysis of the past sale of the property and the reasoning, changes and circumstances that led to the appraiser assigning the valuation they did. As I said in our earlier discussion Government Code Section 6254(H) exempts release of the contents of an appraisal before the acquisition of the property is complete. Therefore I can’t directly answer your question about how they justified the higher value, but I can assure you they did discuss the issues you raised and their methods of determining the higher value they assigned to the property.
However, California Government Code § 6254 (2017) reads “Except as provided in Sections 6254.7 and 6254.13, this chapter does not require the disclosure of any of the following records:
(h) The contents of real estate appraisals or engineering or feasibility estimates and evaluations made for or by the state or local agency relative to the acquisition of property, or to prospective public supply and construction contracts, until all of the property has been acquired or all of the contract agreement obtained.”
A further question was asked if the county is prohibited from releasing the appraisal or just not required to and if they can release it to please provide it, as has been requested since last week.
In response Angstadt wrote, “I spoke with County Counsel and they said they we could disclose the appraisal at this time in the interests of transparency. A number of the issues you raised are discussed starting on page 13.”
Appraisal Explanation for Higher Value Than 2019 Sale Price
On that page, the appraisal provides the reason for part of the higher price. It reads, “The ‘as is’ market value opinion in this appraisal is approximately 27% higher than the February 2019 purchase price. The difference is primarily due to the below market purchase price, as described throughout this report.”
Please check back later for any responses from the Supervisors and any other updates.
Below is the information from the ParcelQuest Lite property search of the Motel 6 property located at 2101 Loveridge Road in Pittsburg.
Russell V. Watts , County Treasurer-Tax Collector
Property Address: 2101 LOVERIDGE RD PITTSBURG CA 94565-5019
Full Detail $14.95 The Full Property Detail includes everything displayed here plus completed information for those fields where “See Full Detail” is shown. If a field is empty on this page, no data is available, and the field will also be empty on the Full Property Detail.
Property Address: 2101 LOVERIDGE RD PITTSBURG CA 94565-5019
General Information
Parcel # (APN): | 088-152-039-9 |
Owner: | See Full Detail |
Mailing Address: | 25920 VIA MARGARITA CARMEL CA 93923-8313 |
Legal Description: | PCL MAP 78 PG 36 POR PCL A |
Use Type: | COMMERCIAL |
Tax Rate Area: | 007-004 |
Assessment
Total Value: | $12,226,480 | Year Assd: | 2020 |
Land: | $2,550,000 | Zoning: | |
Structures: | $9,424,800 | Use Code: | See Full Detail |
Other: | $251,680 | Census Tract: | See Full Detail |
% Improved: | See Full Detail | Price/SqFt: | See Full Detail |
Exempt Amt: | |||
HO Exempt: | N |
Sale History
Sale 1 | Sale 2 | Sale 3 | Transfer | |
Document Date: | 02/12/2019 | See Full Detail | See Full Detail | |
Document Number: | 19052 | See Full Detail | See Full Detail | |
Document Type: | ||||
Transfer Amount: | $12,000,000 | See Full Detail | ||
Seller (Grantor): |
Property Characteristics
Bedrooms: | Fireplace: | Units: | See Full Detail | ||
Baths (Full): | A/C: | Stories: | |||
Baths (Half): | Heating: | Quality: | |||
Total Rooms: | Pool: | Building Class: | |||
Bldg/Liv Area: | 43,352 | Park Type: | Condition: | ||
Lot Acres: | 2.905 | Spaces: | Site Influence: | ||
Lot SqFt: | 126,542 | Garage SqFt: | Timber Preserve: | ||
Year Built: | 1979 | Ag Preserve: | |||
Effective Year: | See Full Detail | ||||
**The information provided here is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed. |
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My Angel’s Inc. partners with The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, White Pony Express and The Pentecostals of the Bay Area to fight food insecurity in Eastern Contra Costa County
My Angel’s Inc., of far East Contra Costa County is joining The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano County and White Pony Express to distribute food for 1,000 families at The Pentecostals of the Bay Area, located at 310 Central Ave in Pittsburg, CA from 9 am- until food resources are gone, on October 30, 2020.
This FREE food distribution will include up to two boxes of food items. Everyone is welcome to attend the drive-through style event. This major food distribution event will follow CDC guidelines for social distancing. All attendees should wear a mask. Food will be distributed either directly into the trunk of a car or truck beds. Walk-Up distribution is also available. You do not need to be a resident of Pittsburg to participate in the Major Food Give-Away.
My Angel’s Inc. is an Antioch based not-for-profit organization committed to nourishing those in need. Founder, George Guevara, saw a radical increase in food insecurity throughout Contra Costa County after the pandemic shut businesses down and left many individuals without a consistent source of income. He began to deliver food to many of Contra Costa’s unhoused population and then extended his mission to include partnerships with local food distribution agencies to co-host major food distribution events. My Angel’s Inc. is an increasingly vital asset to providing food to people in need.
My Angel’s Inc. is committed to continually addressing issues pertinent to food insecurity and will continue to collaborate with community-based organizations to help alleviate food insecurity and the struggles that accompany homelessness, and inadequate access to necessary resources, including housing, medical care, mental health wellness, and addiction.
Read MoreTHIS IS NOT AN EVACUATION ORDER. There are NO active evacuations in Contra Costa County at this time for the upcoming wind-driven fire weather event occurring beginning today and extending into Monday and Tuesday.
However, you may want to consider relocating ahead of this event. If you are uncomfortable in your home given this fire weather event, and you have somewhere to go that is not in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone or area susceptible to wildland fire (see map below and at http://bit.ly/CCCVeryHighFireZoneMap for details), you should consider relocating this afternoon. Relocation could be to a hotel or the residence of a friend or family member in an area outside of the local area being affected by the forecast fire weather.
All of Contra Costa County is under an NWS Red Flag Warning from Sunday evening through Monday morning. Additional fire weather and gusty winds are expected to affect our entire area Monday through Tuesday morning.
The fire weather we are forecast to experience will be significant. Any fire that starts will likely spread quickly.
Residents living in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, areas of the wildland-urban interface, or areas with narrow streets and limited evacuation routes should ensure the following:
- Your cell phones are fully charged and notifications are enabled
- Your cell and home phones are all registered with the Community Warning System at www.cwsalerts.com – there is still time to do this
- Your car is parked facing out of your driveway
- You have determined alternate evacuation routes from your home to a safe area outside of the hills
- You have a plan — you are prepared and ready to go as soon as receiving an official evacuation order
During the fire season, and particularly in this time of heightened fire weather, you need to have a plan to evacuate in the event of a fire. Do not hesitate if you are instructed to evacuate by law enforcement, the fire department, or receive a CWS notification or order to evacuate.
For information on protecting your family, home and neighbors from wildfire – including how to plan for evacuation – read and download our Residents Guide to Wildfire Preparation and Evacuation at www.cccfpd.org.
Communities and hillside portions of El Sobrante and San Pablo, Kensington, East Richmond Heights, the El Cerrito Hills and the west hills of the City of Richmond:
Winds are expected to peak between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Monday morning with gusts of approximately 47 mph and sustained winds of 31 mph. These significant gusty winds and elevated sustained winds are forecast from 5 p.m. Sunday through Monday morning. Relative humidity is expected to fall to very low levels further increasing risk in these areas.
Martinez (west of Berrellesa Street) and Lafayette (north of Highway 24)
Conditions similar to those for West County above are expected to impact other Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
THIS IS NOT AN EVACUATION ORDER. IF AN EVACUATION IS ORDERED NOTIFICATIONS WILL BE SENT THROUGH THE COMMUNITY WARNING SYSTEM (CWS).
We want you to be as prepared as possible given the severity of the forecast fire weather; we want all residents to have ample time to prepare.
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Due to highest winds and driest conditions of season expected Sunday morning through Monday morning, with windy conditions lingering in some regions through early Tuesday
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will de-energize certain electrical lines for safety which started Sunday morning, Oct. 25 as part of a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS). PG&E is calling a PSPS due to a significant, offshore wind event starting Sunday that is forecast to have the driest humidity levels and the strongest winds of the wildfire season thus far, that together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires.
The PSPS event will affect approximately 361,000 customers in targeted portions of 36 counties, including: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba. Some customers in 17 tribal communities will also be affected.
Some customers previously notified about the potential PSPS will not have their power turned off during this event. This is due to a combination of favorable changes in the weather forecast. Approximately 105,000 customers will not be turned off for this reason. Additionally, another 84,000 will remain energized through the event due to islanding, temporary generation, and other methods.
Affected Customers in Contra Costa County: 17,966 customers, 883 Medical Baseline customers could potentially be affected by this PSPS event.
Timeline for Safety Shutoffs
The de-energization will begin around 10 a.m. Sunday morning, beginning with customers in the Northern Sierra region. Shutoffs will continue through Monday into late evening.
Weather is expected to subside Monday morning for the majority of customers, and by Tuesday morning for the remainder. Once it does and it is safe to do so, PG&E will patrol the de-energized lines to determine if they were damaged during the wind event and repair any damage found. PG&E will then safely restore power in stages and as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring power to nearly all customers within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.
Resource for customers
Customer notifications
Customer notifications—via text, email and automated phone call—began Friday, Oct. 23, approximately two days prior to the potential shutoff. Additional notifications one day prior to the event took place Saturday, Oct. 24. Customers enrolled in the company’s Medical Baseline program who do not verify that they have received these important safety communications will be individually visited by a PG&E employee with a knock on their door when possible with a focus on customers who rely on electricity for critical life-sustaining equipment.
Community Resource Centers
To support our customers during this PSPS, PG&E will open 106 Community Resource Centers (CRCs). For customers with power turning off Sunday morning, CRCs will be open from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. today. All CRCs will operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. throughout the event. These temporary CRCs will be open to customers when power is out at their homes and will provide ADA-accessible restrooms, hand-washing stations, medical-equipment charging, WiFi; bottled water, grab-and-go bags and non-perishable snacks.
PG&E updates its CRC locations regularly. To find CRC locations, visit pge.com/crc.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all CRCs will follow important health and safety protocols including:
- Facial coverings and maintaining a physical distance of at least six feet from those who are not part of the same household will be required at all CRCs.
- Temperature checks will be administered before entering CRCs that are located indoors.
- CRC staff will be trained in COVID-19 precautions and will regularly sanitize surfaces and use Plexiglass barriers at check-in.
- All CRCs will follow county and state requirements regarding COVID-19, including limits on the number of customers permitted indoors at any time.
Besides these health protocols, customers visiting a CRC in 2020 will experience further changes, including a different look and feel. In addition to using existing indoor facilities, PG&E is planning to open CRCs at outdoor, open-air sites in some locations and use large commercial vans as CRCs in other locations. CRC locations will depend on a number of factors, including input from local and tribal leaders.
Online Resources for Customers
- Customers can look up their address online to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
- PG&E’s emergency website pge.com/pspsupdates is now available in 13 languages. Currently, the website is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Farsi, Arabic, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi and Japanese. Customers will have the opportunity to choose their language of preference for viewing the information when visiting the website. In addition, PG&E’s contact center has translation services available in over 200 languages. Customers who need in-language support over the phone can contact us by calling 1-833-208-4167.
- For additional language support services including how to set language preference, select options for obtaining translated notifications, and receive other translated resources on PSPS, customers can visit pge.com/pspslanguagehelp. This website is also available in 13 languages as listed above.
- Customers are encouraged to update their contact information and indicate their preferred language for notifications by visiting pge.com/mywildfirealerts or by calling 1-800-743-5000. PG&E’s contact center has translation services available in over 200 languages.
- Tenants and non-account holders can sign up to receive PSPS ZIP Code Alerts for any area where you do not have a PG&E account by visiting pge.com/pspszipcodealerts.
- PG&E has launched a new tool at its online Safety Action Center at safetyactioncenter.pge.com to help customers prepare. By using the “Make Your Own Emergency Plan” tool and answering a few short questions, visitors to the website can compile and organize the important information needed for a personalized family emergency plan.
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By Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
We are excited to let you know that Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in partnership with the Contra Costa CDBG has started a Contra Costa County Micro-Enterprise Relief Fund. The Contra Costa County Micro-Enterprise Relief Fund offers grants to Contra Costa County micro-businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This program aims to provide relief to micro-enterprises in order to help them survive this crisis and to maintain the provision of goods and services for Contra Costa County residents.
For the purposes of this fund, we define a micro-enterprise as a for profit entity with:
- A maximum of 5 employees
- Less than $100,000 in annual revenue
- *Registered, in good standing with, and operating in Contra Costa County cities except for Walnut Creek, Concord, Pittsburg, and Antioch
If you fit these qualifications, you can now apply for the Contra Costa County Micro-Enterprise Relief Fund!
Please find the application here: https://tinyurl.com/ccc-micro-enterprise-fund
This Relief Fund will provide working capital grants of $1,000 – $10,000. Grants can be used to cover costs such as COVID-19 precaution supplies (PPE), safety remodeling (plexiglass, spacing tape, construction labor), facade improvements and signage, online platform fees and social media marketing to further online sales, commercial rents, employee salaries and other operating costs.
For more eligibility criteria please visit this page: https://www.rencenter.org/contra-costa-county-micro-enterprise-relief-fund/
The application period will end on Wednesday, November 11 at Midnight PST.
Read MoreWhat does 1940s Germany have in common with 2020 China? A religious holocaust.
When learning about the reign of Adolf Hitler, many people are automatically outraged and question, “How could the word let this happen? Why didn’t anyone stop it?”.
There is a holocaust happening in China with Uyghur Muslims right now and there is practically no media coverage.
No one is talking about how Muslims are put into ethnic cleansing camps called “re-education camps” that are very similar to the concentration camps of the 1940s. They are forced to drink alcohol, eat pork, forced sterilization, electrocuted, women are being forced to marry non-Muslims, families are being split apart, they have to sing songs about the Communist party, children are being brainwashed, slave labor is happening. These people are being forced to denounce their religion, are being tortured to become atheists all because someone decided that people have to be punished for something they believe in. Why should anyone get to decide how someone else should live?
In fact, the world is so ignorant about what’s happening in China, the popular live action of the movie Mulan was filmed in Xinjiang where Uyghur Muslims are being held in the “re-education campus”. A movie for entertainment purposes was more important to the world than a humanitarian crisis. Many world-renowned companies such as Nike, Gap, Adidas, Calvin Klein, and an astonishing more have been encouraging this genocide through forced labor of the Uyghurs. It’s more important to the United States to get profit than to help people who are constantly being beaten for living their life as they please.
People were appalled that the German holocaust was happening without anyone noticing. Well, a genocide it’s happening again, right under our noses. What will you do about it?
Ala Rahman is a student at Los Medanos College.
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