Serving Antioch, Martinez and Richmond stations
Riders are encouraged to book early during peak holiday travel times
Amtrak San Joaquins is expecting to see a significant increase in ridership this Thanksgiving travel season and is advising riders to book their tickets early. The holiday period typically sees some of the highest ridership levels of the year, and it is expected that many customers who have been delaying travel during the pandemic will be making plans to visit family and friends.
“We have seen ridership returning over the past year, although we are still below our pre-pandemic levels at this point,” said David Lipari, Marketing Manager for Amtrak San Joaquins. “We expect the Thanksgiving travel week to be a key indicator of continued recovery and ridership growth as families take trips that have been long-delayed. We are excited for travelers to make Amtrak San Joaquins part of their holiday plan, and to experience train ridership as a comfortable, convenient, and memorable way to travel.”
The Amtrak San Joaquins route travels daily between Sacramento, Stockton, Oakland, Fresno and Bakersfield, including Antioch, Martinez and Richmond in Contra Costa County, along with Thruway buses that provide connecting service to 135 destinations in California and Nevada, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Napa Valley, Las Vegas and Reno. It also serves students traveling to and from a number of colleges and universities including Sac State, Fresno State, UC Merced and more.
Passengers are encouraged to plan ahead and book their train tickets early as it is expected for many of the trains to be at maximum capacity during the most popular travel times. Additionally, Amtrak San Joaquins advises passengers to look at a broader range of travel dates before and after Thanksgiving to access additional booking capacity.
Amtrak San Joaquins provides an easy and comfortable way to travel this holiday season – with a traffic-free, airport-free, stress-free experience. Travelers will continue to experience enhanced safety, cleaning and physical distancing measures that have been put in place to promote public health. These protocols include required face coverings, contactless amenities, regular cleaning and disinfection, social distancing on board and in stations, and sophisticated air filtration. Amtrak San Joaquins has information about its COVID-19 response here.
Ticketing and reservations are available on AmtrakSanJoaquins.com, the Amtrak app, or by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL.
Read MoreUnanimous vote by trustees; all visitors, including vendors and subcontractors, required to complete health assessment prior to visiting a 4CD facility.
By Timothy Leung, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa Community College District
At their September 8, 2021, meeting, the Contra Costa Community College District (4CD) Governing Board passed a resolution on a unanimous vote establishing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all employees, and students who attend at least one in-person class or visits a 4CD facility or campus. All visitors, including vendors and subcontractors, are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated and will be required to complete a health assessment prior to visiting a 4CD facility. Ward 2 Trustee and Board Vic President Dr. Walters made the motion, and it was seconded by Ward 5 Trustee Fernando Sandoval. The vote was unanimous, including the student trustee. (See Item 21.A.)
The vaccine requirement became effective on Monday, November 1, 2021, in order to provide time for those currently unvaccinated to become fully vaccinated. The 4CD Governing Board determined that requiring vaccines for students and employees is necessary to ensure the health and safety of the 4CD community.
Employees and students can apply for a vaccination exception or deferral in the following situations: (a) medical excuse from receiving COVID-19 vaccine due to medical conditions or precaution; b) disability; (c) during the period of any pregnancy; or (d) religious objection based on a person’s sincerely held religious beliefs, practice or observance. When an exception or deferral has been approved, regular weekly COVID-19 testing with evidence of negative test results will be required for any unvaccinated person accessing District campuses or facilities.
4CD is evaluating various technology solutions that will track the vaccination status and test results in a secure system designed to protect the privacy of students and employees in accordance with applicable laws.
“In making this decision, 4CD reached out to its students, faculty, classified professionals, and managers and received overwhelming support to take this action,” said Chancellor Bryan Reece. “COVID-19 and its many variants will be with us for a while, so we must take prudent steps like this one so we can continue providing face-to-face instruction and services for our students, while ensuring we have a safe place to learn and work for our students and staff.”
4CD continues to monitor and adhere to health guidelines from federal, state and local health authorities, and advocates vaccination is the most effective way to prevent transmission and limit COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.
Visit 4CD’s website at https://www.4cd.edu/covid19/index.html for more information.
About the College District
The Contra Costa Community College District (4CD) is one of the largest multi-college community college districts in California. The 4CD serves a population of 1,019,640 people, and its boundaries encompass all but 48 of the 734-square-mile land area of Contra Costa County. 4CD is home to Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, as well as educational centers in Brentwood and San Ramon. The District headquarters is located in downtown Martinez. For more information visit www.4cd.edu.
Read MoreFunding package supports several capital projects for ACE Rail and Amtrak San Joaquins which serves Antioch, Martinez and Richmond stations; provides up to $102 billion in total spending for passenger railroad infrastructure including $28.5 billion for Amtrak
By Harlo Pippenger, San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority
The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission and San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority are applauding the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and highlighting the bill’s series of investments in California rail projects.
The transportation reauthorization package passed out of the House on November 5th and President Biden signed the measure this past Monday. It provides up to $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending, including nearly $550 billion in new spending to address the nation’s aging transportation networks. Specifically, the bill provides up to $102 billion in total spending for passenger railroad infrastructure.
“This bill brings meaningful investments to our rail system in the Central Valley and Northern California,” said Stacey Mortenson, Executive Director of both the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (SJRRC), which runs Altamont Corridor Express (ACE Rail), and the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA), which runs Amtrak San Joaquins. “We have capital projects underway throughout our service territories, and this new federal funding package comes at the right time to support route improvements, station buildout, and equipment modernization.”
ACE Rail, a commuter service that runs between the Bay Area and Stockton, and Amtrak San Joaquins, an intercity service that runs through the Central Valley and connects to the Bay Area, will benefit from several funding streams in the legislation:
- The infrastructure package includes a 43% increase to Federal Transit Administration formula funds, which directly support ACE’s capital program on a yearly basis.
- The legislation provides up to $28.5 billion for Amtrak’s National Network – these funds will support routes like the San Joaquinsand help the system acquire modern rolling stock, enhance station accessibility and amenities, and address backlogged capital projects.
- The package provides up to $10 billion for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grants, which is a competitive grant program. The funding will expand eligibilities for the CRISI grants to allow state-supported routes like the San Joaquinsto acquire and develop clean energy locomotives.
- The IIJA creates a new railroad grade-crossing elimination program – with up to $5.5 billion in funding – to improve railroad safety across the nation and our state. In FY 2020, California experienced the second most highway-rail grade crossing incidents in the nation.
“These investments will not only transform our transportation system, but will also help transform our communities,” said Christina Fugazi, SJRRC Chair. “It is essential that local, state and federal governments make it a priority to enhance and modernize our rail networks. Improving access and increasing rail service are key strategies for reducing congestion, supporting environmental and climate change goals, and strengthening our economy.”
“California is unique in how it manages passenger rail systems,” said Patrick Hume, SJJPA Chair.“So, we appreciate how this funding package will allow our state-supported San Joaquins route service to compete for new grant dollars, while also positioning us to work together with the Federal Railroad Administration and CalSTA to use this funding to modernize equipment and pursue key capital projects.”
On a local and regional level, advocacy efforts are also accelerating on behalf of a series of projects aimed at expanding passenger rail service throughout the “megaregion.” The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG), and Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) have come together in a Working Group and jointly identified the “MegaRegion Dozen,” which are a variety of multi-modal transportation projects that would benefit the connected Northern California and Central Valley region. The MegaRegion Dozen plan calls for more than $400 million in additional funding priorities for Amtrak San Joaquins and ACE Rail; it will help organize how the different agencies and local governments pursue different grant or funding opportunities.
“We see a lot of momentum right now in support of a strong, reliable, accessible passenger rail network in California,” Fugazi added. “We appreciate the dedication of Senator Padilla, Senator Feinstein, and our congressional representatives from Northern California and the San Joaquin Valley who helped push through the IIJA legislation that brings tangible benefits for our programs, and we are ready to put the new funds to good use immediately.”
President Biden also signed an Executive Order for implementing the bill on Monday, in which he wrote, “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in our Nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. It will help rebuild America’s roads, bridges, and rails; expand access to clean drinking water; work to ensure access to high-speed Internet throughout the Nation; tackle the climate crisis; advance environmental justice; and invest in communities that have too often been left behind. It will accomplish all of this while driving the creation of good-paying union jobs and growing the economy sustainably and equitably for decades to come.”
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreBy Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff
Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner David Livingston announces that a coroner’s jury today reached a finding in the September 28, 2020 death of 46-year-old Jeremy Robert Waring of Pleasant Hill. The finding of the jury is that the death is a suicide.
The coroner’s jury verdict came after hearing the testimony of witnesses called by the hearing officer, Laura Pagey.
According to the Pleasant Hill Police Department, on Sept. 21, 2020, officers received reports of an armed person at a residence. Officers arrived to find a person driving away from the scene. When the officers tried to make a traffic stop, Waring started shooting at them.
He then drove behind Pleasant Hill Elementary School where he attempted to commit suicide with the firearm.
Officials say the suspect was taken to a hospital to receive medical attention for his injuries.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident.
A Coroner’s Inquest, which Sheriff-Coroner David Livingston convenes in fatal incidents involving law enforcement personnel, is a public hearing during which a jury rules on the manner of a person’s death. Jury members can choose from the following four options when making their finding: Accident, Suicide, Natural Causes or At the hands of another person, other than by accident.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreBy Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Members of both the California Nurses Association and National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) are participating in sympathy strikes on Friday, Nov. 19, at all Kaiser facilities in Northern California in support of the Engineers, Local 39 who have been on strike for 63 days, as of today.
Kaiser Permanente statement about claims made by the California Nurses Association
November 19, 2021
Note: Kaiser Permanente is not in bargaining with the California Nurses Association, whose contract runs through August 2022.
The last 20 months of this pandemic have been an incredibly challenging and stressful time to work on the front lines of health care. We are extremely grateful for our frontline health care workforce, including our nurses, whose commitment to providing care and service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of inspiring.
And while staffing continues to be a challenge across health care, we have hired hundreds of nurses and other care team members in recent months and continue to support our teams and their need for respite by bringing in experienced temporary staff. In fact, in spite of the acute shortage of nurses in the state, Kaiser Permanente Northern California will have hired an estimated 1,800 experienced nurses by the end of the year, in addition to adding 300 new nurses who will graduate from Kaiser Permanente’s nurse residency program.
We want to thank our nurses, who demonstrate resilience, expertise and compassion every day. We recognize and have worked hard to ease the stresses that this pandemic has caused our people. Since early in the pandemic response, Kaiser Permanente has provided nearly $600 million in employee assistance to ensure that our frontline employees had access to alternate housing, special childcare grants, and additional paid leave for COVID-19 illness and exposure. When it became clear at year-end that our workers’ performance bonuses could be reduced by the effects of the pandemic, we instead chose to guarantee all eligible union-represented employees at least a 100% payout of their performance bonus, amounting to thousands of dollars a person on average.
Kaiser Permanente statement about bargaining with NUHW and claims made by the union
November 19, 2021
Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which represents nearly 2,000 of our mental health professionals in Northern California, began bargaining in late July. While the union is issuing press statements about staffing, the real issue at the table is how much therapists are paid.
This strike is a bargaining tactic this union has used every time it is bargaining for a new contract with Kaiser Permanente, over the past 11 years of its existence. We are still bargaining and are committed to resolving the issues and reaching an agreement.
There is a national shortage of mental health clinicians that was already a challenge before the pandemic, and over the past year-and-a-half the demand for care has increased everywhere. We have been taking action to address the shortage of caregivers and to ensure care is available to our members. Over the past five years we have added hundreds of new mental health clinicians to our workforce; we currently have more than 300 open positions. We’ve worked hard to expand the number of therapists in California and are investing $30 million to build a pipeline to educate and train new mental health professionals across the state, with an emphasis on expanding the number of bilingual and diverse students entering the mental health field.
We have significantly expanded our ability to provide virtual care to patients who want it, increasing convenience and access, even though NUHW initially objected to this effort. We also continue to scale up our collaborative care programs that have proven to effectively treat patients with anxiety and depression diagnoses.
As a result of these efforts and more, Kaiser Permanente offers timely access to initial and return appointments that meets all state standards and is above the average of other California providers. While this is an accomplishment during this time of caregiver shortage and increased demand, we are not finished. We know that every appointment is important and matters to each patient, every person’s needs are unique and every Kaiser Permanente member who needs care deserves timely access to that care.
We have the greatest respect and gratitude for our mental health professionals and we are dedicated to supporting them in their important work. In addition to working with us to improve access to high quality mental health care, we are asking NUHW to work constructively to help address future costs to ensure we continue to be affordable for our members.
At the heart of the issues in bargaining is this: Health care is increasingly unaffordable, and escalating wages are half of our costs. Kaiser Permanente is indisputably one of the most labor-friendly organizations in the United States. We are committed to remaining an employer of choice for mental health professionals, and to continuing to offer our employees market-leading wages and benefits. But we cannot continue to allow costs to grow beyond what our members can afford.
The wages our mental health care professionals receive are significantly higher than average in some markets. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, licensed marriage family therapists at Kaiser Permanente earn more than $126,000 on average, which is more than $21,000 higher than market average wages, and licensed clinical social workers make more than $128,000, which is more than $16,000 higher than the market average. The same trend is true in the other parts of Northern California. In Sacramento, licensed clinical social workers earn an average of more than $127,000 in wages, which is $24,000 more than the market average. In addition, we provide among the most generous benefits available.
The challenge we are trying to address is that if we continue to increase costs so high above the marketplace, our members will not be able to afford to get the care they need. We have to work together to address this challenge in a way that honors and rewards our employees and recognizes the increasing difficulty our members and customers face in paying for care.
NUHW leadership has called for strikes every time we are in bargaining. It is a key part of their bargaining strategy, and it is especially disappointing that they are asking our dedicated and compassionate employees to walk away from their patients when they need us most. We take seriously any threat to disrupt care. We urge our employees to reject any call for a strike, continue to focus on providing care, and work with us through the bargaining process to finalize a new agreement.
Read MoreContra Costa Supervisor John Gioia speaks during rally
In a forceful demonstration of solidarity with striking Kaiser Permanente engineers and outrage over Kaiser’s chronic underfunding of behavioral health care, National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) members including social workers, therapists, and psychologists fanned out to Kaiser hospitals across Northern California for a one-day strike. (See videos here and here)
The picket lines formed before dawn and culminated with hundreds of red-clad NUHW members, along with allied nurses and engineers, marching through downtown Oakland for a rally outside Kaiser’s corporate headquarters.
“I want to thank the solidarity that we’ve had the last few weeks,” Mark Sutherland, a Kaiser engineer, told NUHW members in Oakland, recognizing that several NUHW members had also staged individual sympathy strikes with the engineers who had been on strike for 63 days.
Outside a nearby Kaiser corporate office building, mental clinicians, nurses, and engineers chanted together, “We’re all essential workers.”
The rallies were headlined by mental health clinicians, allies including Mental Health America of California President Heidi Strunk, and elected officials including Assemblymember Alex Lee, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers and councilmembers Natalie Rogers, Eddie Alvarez, and Victoria Fleming, Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, Oakland City Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Dan Kalb, and Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia.
When Gioia told clinicians, “I know you don’t like having to tell your patients we can’t make your next appointment for another month,” one clinician responded, “Three months.”
Friday’s solidarity strike was an opportunity for clinicians to support the engineers, who went on sympathy strikes with NUHW and also inform the public that Kaiser is refusing to consider contract proposals to dramatically increase mental health staffing and improve access to care.
“You can say you are bargaining in good faith, but the results are in what shows up out here,” Jason Lechner, an addiction medicine therapist, told KPIX-5 from the Oakland picket line.
Mickey Fitzpatrick, a psychologist at Kaiser Pleasanton, told the Mercury News his next appointment isn’t until January.
“We’re grossly understaffed and caseloads exceeding into the hundreds,” Fitzpatick told the paper. “It’s unethical to force clients to wait one or two months, sometimes three months for therapy appointments, and it’s incongruent with their standard of care that suggests for therapy to be effective, for clients to be seen in intervals of one to two weeks.”
Joanna Manqueros told the paper that long waits for care can have devastating implications for patients. “Depression is a serious mental health condition and just like an untreated diabetic or an untreated person with a severe cardiac condition, serious ramifications can include death and this is true for many of the mental health conditions we treat.”
At the San Francisco rally, Kerry Levin, a Kaiser social worker in San Rafael, chronicled the deterioration of Kaiser’s mental health services.
“I have worked for Kaiser for 20 years and I have never seen it this bad,” he said. “I work in the emergency room. The overdoses, the suicide attempts, the people in crisis, it has multiplied by at least four times. It takes eight weeks for people who are suffering to get care. It’s unconscionable.”
Levin added, “In contract negotiations, via Zoom, Kaiser has nothing to bring to the table. They turn off their cameras after 10 minutes. They offer nothing.”
“Kaiser needs to provide the funding and staffing necessary to provide adequate health care,” Matt Hannon, a psychologist for Kaiser in Daly City, said during the rally. “It is typical for Kaiser patients to wait eight weeks between appointments. There is no form of therapy that works anywhere when the sessions are eight weeks apart. None. Zip. Nada.”
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On day 63 of strike by Engineers, Local 39
Taking over where the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, OPEIU Local 29 and IFPTE Local 20 m members left off, Kaiser nurses are holding a 24-hour sympathy strike in solidarity with IUOE Stationary Engineers, Local 39. It started at 7 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 19 and will last until 7 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20, the California Nurses Association (CNA) announced. The strikes are being held at all Kaiser facilities in Northern California including both Antioch and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County. Friday marks the 63rd day the Kaiser engineers have been on strike. (See related article)
“An injury to one of us is an injury to all of us, so nurses will be standing in solidarity with our engineer colleagues as they go on strike this month,” said CNA President Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Roseville. “It’s so important for working people to stand together, and we hope that with the nurses by their side, Kaiser engineers will win meaningful change for working people, and for safe patient care conditions.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaiser Permanente has made $13 billion in profits. However, rather than spend that money on increasing core staffing, Kaiser has proposed to float engineers among facilities. This model would institutionalize the staffing shortages that have already hurt patients and workers. Rather than accept this takeaway, engineers have been on strike for nearly two months.
“Nurses know the devastating impact that short staffing has on our community’s health and well-being,” said Kennedy. “We also know that in order to provide the safe patient care our communities need and deserve, we must be able to count on our coworkers and they must be able to count on us. So, we are standing with the Kaiser engineers in their righteous fight for a safe and just workplace.”
CNA registered nurses will be holding sympathy strikes at locations including:
- Antioch Medical Center, 4501 Sand Creek Rd, Antioch, CA 94531
- Walnut Creek Medical Center, 1425 S Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
- Fremont Medical Center, 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538
- Fresno Medical Center, 7300 N Fresno Street, Fresno, CA 93720
- Manteca Medical Center, 1777 W. Yosemite Avenue, Manteca, CA 95337
- Modesto Medical Center, 4601 Dale Road, Modesto, CA 95356
- Oakland Medical Center, 3600 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611
- Redwood City Medical Center, 1100 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA 94063
- Richmond Medical Center, 901 Nevin Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801
- Roseville Medical Center, 1600 Eureka Road, Roseville, CA 95661
- Sacramento Medical Center, 2025 Morse Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95825
- San Francisco Medical Center, 2425 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94115
- San Leandro Medical Center, 2500 Merced Street, San Leandro, CA 94577
- San Rafael Medical Center, 99 Montecillo Road, San Rafael, CA 94903
- Santa Clara Medical Center, 700 Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051
- Santa Rosa Medical Center, 401 Bicentennial Way, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
- San Jose Medical Center, 250 Hospital Parkway, San Jose, CA 95119
- South San Francisco Medical Center, 1200 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA 94080
- South Sacramento Medical Center, 6600 Bruceville Road, Sacramento, CA 95823
- Vacaville Medical Center, 1 Quality Drive, Vacaville, CA 95688
- Vallejo Medical Center, 975 Sereno Drive, Vallejo, CA 94589
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 175,000 RNs nationwide.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
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Jeanne Krieg honored by the California Transit Association
By Leeann Loroño, Manager of Customer Service and Marketing, Tri Delta Transit
ANTIOCH, CA, Tri Delta Transit’s CEO, Jeanne Krieg, was honored to receive California Transit Association’s (CTA) distinguished award Small Operators Committee Transit Professional of the Year 2021. She was honored on Nov. 3 during an awards breakfast at the CTA’s 56th Annual Fall Conference & Expo in Sacramento.
The CTA has 52 Small Operator members throughout the state which each operate fewer than 100 buses. The organization gives the award to an outstanding individual who has provided strong leadership and vision to a California transit agency or made a notable contribution that benefits public transit in general.
Krieg has done both of those. She has served as CEO of the agency for 26 of its 44-year history. Krieg has met every challenge the agency has faced, while continuing to grow the organization through innovation that focuses on meeting the transportation needs of Eastern Contra Costa County. Under her leadership, Tri Delta Transit is often first adaptors for programs such as “green business” certifications, Mobility on Demand, real time route applications, mobile ticketing apps, free Wi-Fi, Tri Delta Watch hazard reporting, electric buses, and (soon) hydrogen fueling stations and buses.
“What makes our CEO such a strong leader is not only her passion for the industry and vision for innovation, but also her focus on providing ultimate customer service for our riders,” says Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority Board of Directors Chair Ken Grey. “In addition, she takes as much care of the staff as she does the riders, with an open-door policy, benefits and morale programs, as well as providing training support and personal touches that result in very low turnover.”
Krieg encourages sharing of resources and information, which she does herself by serving on the CTA Executive Committee, for which she served as Chair from 2002 to 2004, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) executive committee, and the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Oversight and Project Selection Committee, not to mention being active on many sub-committees. Her many contributions to the transit industry over her 30-year career have benefitted many other agencies and the industry as a whole.
“I was surprised and honored to receive this award,” Krieg said. “The award really belongs to the board of directors and staff for making Tri Delta Transit such a great organization.”
The Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, doing business as Tri Delta Transit, is a joint powers agency of the governments of Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, and Contra Costa County that provides over 2,500,000 trips each year to a population of over 315,000 residents in the 225 square miles of Eastern Contra Costa County. They currently operate 15 local bus routes Monday through Friday, four local bus routes on weekends, on-demand ride share service Tri MyRide, and door-to-door bus service for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
For additional information about Tri Delta Transit, please visit www.trideltatransit.com.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreThe Contra Costa County Probation Department is the recipient of a one-year, $389,700 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to monitor high-risk, repeat DUI Probation clients. Currently, the Probation Department is supervising 202 DUI probation clients.
Grant funding will be used to make sure DUI probation clients are following the court ordered terms of their probation, including home, work and office visits, alcohol testing and warrant service operations.
In addition, funding will be used to develop the Habitual Offender Tally, also known as “HOT Sheets,” that identify repeat DUI probation clients to local law enforcement agencies. The funds will also be utilized to assist Probation in working with Court officials to establish probation orders for the DUI clients being placed on probation.
This grant is aimed at reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol-related collisions as well as lower DUI recidivism rates.
“Prevention and treatment are valuable tools in reducing DUI recidivism rates,” OTS Director Barbara Rooney said. “Monitoring programs are intended to steer probationers in the right direction.”
The ongoing partnership between the Contra Costa County Probation Department and the Office of Traffic Safety has spanned more than 15 years.
“The support and assistance provided by OTS, coupled with strong working relationships with state and local law enforcement agencies, have allowed the Probation Department to closely monitor and rehabilitate our clients,” said Chief Probation Officer, Esa Ehmen-Krause. “Reducing the traumatic impact that impaired driving causes across our community contributes to improving public safety.”
The grant will fund Probation Department personnel to monitor drivers on Probation for felony DUI or multiple misdemeanor DUI convictions, including conducting unannounced fourth amendment waiver home searches, random alcohol and drug testing and ensuring those on probation are attending court-ordered DUI education and treatment programs. It will also fund the continued training of the Probation Department personnel in an effort to keep up with current trends and equipment use.
While alcohol remains the worst offender for DUI crashes, Contra Costa County Probation supports OTS in its statement, “DUI just doesn’t mean booze.” Prescription medications and marijuana can be impairing by themselves, but also in combination with alcohol, and can result in a DUI arrest.
The grant program runs through September 2022.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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Victim was known as the “Legend of Mount Diablo” for his 600 rides to the top of the peak
By Bobbi Mauler, Executive Assistant to the District Attorney, Contra Costa County
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office has charged Lori Everett with a misdemeanor Vehicular Manslaughter in violation of Penal Code section 192(c)(2), for striking cyclist Joseph Shami with her vehicle in Lafayette on April 13, 2021, shortly before 7:00 AM.
Shami was an incredibly experienced cyclist who lawfully entered the roundabout at the interchange of Olympic Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road. Despite Shami’s bright helmet and colorful clothing, the motorist failed to yield, and struck the victim cyclist who was in an established lane of travel.
According to Lafayette Police news release reported previously, “a nurse and a doctor from John Muir Medical Center and a firefighter from the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, who happened to pass by, immediately began to render aid to the bicyclist. Officers arrived on scene along with the fire department which took over medical care for the victim. The bicyclist was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and died overnight.” (See related article)
Shami, a retired AT&T engineer, was known as the “Legend of Mount Diablo” for riding to the top of the East Bay’s tallest peak for 600 straight weeks, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He completed his 11-year, 28-week streak in 2019 at the age of 85. Shami was a member of the Mount Diablo Cyclists.
Tragic roadway deaths like this are avoidable. To ensure the safety of our community, the Office of the District Attorney implores motorists to be active, attentive drivers and to be mindful of pedestrians and cyclists when sharing the roadways.
Case information: DKT# 01-197626-5
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