Grand Opening Thursday through Saturday
Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. is opening a new location in Brentwood, CA this month. The store is located at 5491 Lone Tree Way near Trade Joe’s, Petco and Kohl’s. The Grand Opening is scheduled for October 15-17, 2020.
“We are glad to welcome Sportsman’s Warehouse to Brentwood,” said Vice Mayor Joel Bryant. “The quality products they offer and variety will be great for Brentwood and East County residents, and fill a gap in what people and want and need to enjoy the great outdoors. The store also fills retail space that’s been empty for awhile, adding to our city’s sales tax base, and providing more, local jobs.”
Since 1986, Sportsman’s Warehouse has been providing outdoor enthusiasts with quality merchandise in a friendly, low-key shopping environment.
“We are excited to open our new store in Brentwood and become a part of the community. We look forward to hiring local experts to serve you and outfit your next adventure,” said Jon Barker, Sportsman’s Warehouse CEO.
Like all Sportsman’s Warehouse locations, the Brentwood store will adhere to mandated COVID-19 cleaning and social distancing guidelines.
Read MoreOrganized by No Coal in Richmond, other environmental groups and SEIU Local 1021
By Janet Johnson
A public rally was held Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. in front City Hall in Richmond to oppose the Terminal and allied groups’ attempts to buy seats on the Richmond City Council. It was attended by about 35 people. The Levin-Richmond Terminal Corporation has so far donated $25,000 to city council candidates – including Vinay Pimplé, Eleanor Thompson, and Ahmad Anderson – whom it hopes will vote to overturn the ordinance phasing out coal and petroleum coke storage and handling at the Terminal. In addition, the company gave the maximum allowable contribution directly to Anderson’s campaign. The current city council adopted the ordinance after a successful two-year campaign by No Coal in Richmond, health professionals, and other environmental and community groups. Now, the Levin-Richmond Terminal has joined developers and others in trying to buy seats on the Richmond City Council.
Election buying in Richmond is nothing new. The city has suffered for decades as big industries have poured money into campaigns for candidates who will support their interests, including Chevron’s unsuccessful attempt to buy 2014 city races. However, No Coal in Richmond and allies from Alliance of Californians for Community Action (ACCE Action) the Sunflower Alliance, Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action (APEN Action), Communities for a Better Environment Action (CBE Action), and SEIU Local 1021 are actively opposing this attempt to subvert the political process.
According to the No Coal in Richmond website: “Toxic dust from coal and petroleum coke (pet coke) is polluting our neighborhoods. Richmond CA residents living and working near the Levin-Richmond Terminal see this dust outside on our cars and windowsills. What we don’t see are the microscopic harmful substances going deep into our lungs. They’re in the air we breathe, in our homes, and where we work and play.
Richmond residents and workers cannot continue to be exposed to high levels of toxic coal and pet coke dust. We already suffer from elevated levels of asthma, heart disease, and other health problems caused by bad air quality.
To make Richmond a healthier place to live, we need to end the storage and handling of coal and pet coke at the Levin-Richmond Terminal.
The Richmond Coal Ordinance establishes a fair process, gradually phasing out coal and poisonous petroleum coke and relying on the city’s legal authority to protect us.”
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Plus, Regional Early Voting Sites will be offered beginning Friday, Oct. 30
By Allen Payton
For those who want to vote in person at a polling place and not mail in their ballot, there’s good news. The Contra Costa Elections Division is providing both 150 polling places throughout the county, and 17 Regional Early Voting Sites, beginning Friday, Oct. 30, as well.
“The model that we’re using for polling places in the November election is the same as in the March election and the November 2018 election,” said Contra Costa County Assistant Registrar of Voters, Scott Konopasek. “The locations may have moved around a bit based on the availability of sites for the polling places.”
“If a voter wants to know where to go to vote at the polls, they can visit our website at cocovote.us, click on Am I Registered, then in the search box type in their name and birthdate and it will tell you everything you need to know about the election,” he continued. (Or click here.)
There will also be Regional Early Voting Sites the weekend before Election Day, beginning Friday, Oct. 30.
“You’re not assigned to any particular one and you can vote at any of them, using the exact ballot for you,” Konopasek added.
Regional Early Voting Sites *Outdoors in Event Tent
Friday, October 30 11am – 7pm | Saturday, October 31 9am – 5pm | Monday, November 2 11am – 7pm |
REV Sites | ||
Building Name | Address | City |
Stone Valley Rd Chapel* | 2949 Stone Valley Rd | Alamo |
Antioch Water Park | 4701 Lone Tree Way | Antioch |
Somersville Town Center* | 2550 Somersville Rd | Antioch |
Ambrose Community Center | 3105 Willow Pass Rd | Bay Point |
Cornerstone Fellowship* | 6641 Lone Tree Way | Brentwood |
Clarion Hotel | 1050 Burnett Ave | Concord |
El Rancho Restaurant* | 1450 Monument Blvd | Concord |
St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church* | 1955 Kirker Pass Rd | Concord |
El Cerrito Community Center | 7007 Moeser Ln | El Cerrito |
Veterans Memorial Building* | 3780 Mt Diablo Blvd | Lafayette |
Moraga Library* | 1500 Saint Marys Rd | Moraga |
Best Western Plus Delta Inn* | 5549 Bridgehead Rd | Oakley |
Hyatt House Pleasant Hill | 2611 Contra Costa Blvd | Pleasant Hill |
Hilltop Mall Parking Lot* | 2200 Hilltop Mall Rd. | Richmond |
Richmond Memorial Auditorium | 403 Civic Center Plaza | Richmond |
Amador Rancho Community Center | 1998 Rancho Park Loop | San Ramon |
Heather Farms Park* | 301 N San Carlos Drive | Walnut Creek |
Currently, voters can drop off their ballot at multiple locations throughout the county at both 24-hour sites and indoor sites during business hours.
Contra Costa County Indoor Drop Boxes Available During Business Hours* | |||
Clayton City Hall | 6000 Heritage Trail, Floor 3 | Clayton | Mon – Fri, 9am-5pm |
Pittsburg City Hall | 65 Civic Avenue | Pittsburg | Mon – Fri, 8am-5pm |
San Pablo Library | 13751 San Pablo Ave | San Pablo | Tues, 1pm-8pm Wed-Thurs, 11am-6pm Fri-Sat, 10am-5pm |
San Ramon City Hall | 7000 Bollinger Canyon Rd | San Ramon | Mon – Fri, 8:30am-5pm |
Alcosta Senior and Community Center | 9300 Alcosta Blvd | San Ramon | Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5pm |
San Ramon Permit Center | 2401 Crow Canyon Road | San Ramon | Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5pm |
*Hours shown may vary. Check directly with the location for current hours.
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I find it interesting that Jovita Mendoza routinely misrepresents Councilmember Claudette Staton’s positions on the important issues in our neighborhood.
Councilmember Staton voted, along with all the other council members, to put Measure L on the ballot to let the voters decide whether or not to proceed with the development and I think Ms. Mendoza would be happy that the voters rejected the development.
Ms. Mendoza knows – because she received an opinion on it – that per the California Political Reform Act, Councilmember Staton has to recuse herself from deliberations and votes on the proposed oil and gas drilling and the Bridal Gate development and recent zoning decisions. Bridal Gate will come before the Council in Feb. 2021.
Councilwoman Staton, as a private citizen, has stated that she is opposed to the oil and gas drilling.
If Ms. Mendoza continues to misrepresent facts how can we trust her on council?
JoAnn Klement
Brentwood
Read MoreSearch begins for his replacement
Randell H. Iwasaki, the Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority announced recently, his intention to retire from the agency. Following is a statement from the Board Chair Julie Pierce.
“It is with a range of mixed emotions that I announce Randell Iwasaki’s (Randy) retirement from his successful and accomplished career at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA). I am sad Randy will retire as CCTA’s Executive Director effective December 26, 2020; yet, I am immensely proud of the goals, recognition and innovations CCTA achieved in the ten years Randy has been at the helm of the Authority, and extremely grateful for the leadership Randy has demonstrated while managing this agency. His vision, as well as his ability to create, guide and inspire a remarkable workforce resulted in a small but mighty team who has made significant advances to improve mobility in Contra Costa County.
Randy and his staff have delivered on our promise to the public by completing major infrastructure improvements such as Highway 4 and the Caldecott Fourth Bore projects, while simultaneously pursuing innovative ways to improve mobility in the future. During Randy’s tenure, CCTA has become a leader in advancing new technology to solve real challenges faced by our residents. Notable achievements include establishing the nation’s largest secure, connected and automated vehicle proving grounds, securing legislation to pilot the first low-speed, multi-passenger, shared autonomous vehicles that are not equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal, accelerator or operator on public roads in California, and more recently winning two nationally competitive grants to deploy innovative transportation technology from the United States Department of Transportation.
Throughout his tenure as Executive Director, Randy has ensured CCTA remains a responsible and prudent steward of public funds. For eight years in a row the agency’s management of sales tax dollars has been recognized with the coveted “Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting” from the Government Finance Officers Association. Last year, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association also honored CCTA with a Silver Medal Award for Good Government.
On behalf of the CCTA Board, I’d like to express our gratitude for Randy’s extraordinary role in delivering so many projects aimed to strengthen the economy, protect the environment and enhance Contra Costa County’s transportation system. In the ten years he has served as Executive Director, he has accomplished much to improve the quality of life for our residents. We thank Randy for his dedication to this agency, and wish him all the best in his new adventures.”
The CCTA Board has appointed a sub-committee of the Board to lead the search for the agency’s next Executive Director.”
Iwasaki is the former Executive Director of CalTrans, the state Department of Transportation, said he plans to work in the private sector following his retirement in December.
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The Forensic Services Division of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff was awarded $408,853.00 in grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The funding will be used to purchase a Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS/MS).
The new equipment can detect illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter drugs commonly found in driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and drug facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) cases. The addition of this equipment will enable the Sheriff’s Crime Laboratory to provide a higher level of service to the agencies in Contra Costa County and the criminal justice system.
“We are pleased to receive this grant from the Office of Traffic Safety,” said Contra Costa County Sheriff David O. Livingston. “This will increase our efficiency and enable us to provide rapid results to law enforcement and prosecutors on DUID cases in Contra Costa County.”
The purchase of the new instrument, training, and method validation are anticipated to take up to one year. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Read MoreFirefighters extinguish fire in tunnel where she’s been living.
By Art Ray
It’s starting to get cooler at night if you have a place to sleep, you can thank God.
I responded to. a working fire in the underpass beneath Highway 4 at Century Blvd. in Pittsburg. When I got there, I saw a young, homeless woman, and I do mean young. She was laying down on a nasty mattress behind some metal bars. The arriving firemen grabbed a saw and cut the gate open so they could put a hose on the fire.
What got me was that the young woman remained on the mattress with smoke pouring out of the tunnel. She didn’t have the capacity to get away from the smoke or fire. Finally, she walked out of the tunnel bare foot stepping on glass, rocks and all kinds of dangerous things. As she passed by me, I asked “where are your shoes?” to which she replied she didn’t have any.
The point of this story is not that I went and got her a pair of shoes from the store but that she has some demons that has her early, 20-year-old self, homeless and living under a highway. She didn’t even have the mental capacity to follow my directions and to walk the one block down to the store to meet me to get the new shoes.
I had to go driving around to find her. When I did find her, she was sitting on the ground painting a cigarette lighter with fingernail polish. When I walked up to her with the shoe bag she never even looked up to me when I gave her the new blue shoes she was fixated on the nail polish and lighter. That’s when I realized that’s there are bigger issues than being homeless. There are thousands of homeless people that are not thinking straight.
After dropping off the shoes I went to meet with the county’s homeless advocate to see if they could help the young sister. He told me he would leave his office and go find her as soon as he got done checking in another homeless person into the newly opened homeless residence the state just bought from Motel 6.
I’m saying all of this to encourage everyone to find a way they can help another human being instead of just complaining about the homeless problem.
Most police departments and counties have resources you can plug into. Maybe you have a warm coat or shoes you don’t wear anymore. Be a part of the homeless solution not a person that finds pleasure in complaining about the homeless. Trust this. Many of the homeless have issues they are battling in their heads. It’s getting cold out. Are you willing to find a way to get involved? Perhaps it’s through your church. Like they say, it takes a village. We are all our brother’s, or in this case, our sister’s keeper.
This is a story that I needed to photograph and tell. I included a picture of the nasty mattress in the filth someone’s daughter or sister was laying on when I arrived. Notice I didn’t include her face so she could retain some kind of dignity.
Art Ray is owner of Bay News Video providing video footage to Bay Area news stations and online media.
Read MoreAssembly candidate, Janell Proctor, is extremely honored to receive the endorsement of the Pittsburg Police Officer’s Association for her race in District 14 which encompasses portions of Contra Costa, Solano, and Napa counties.
“Several months ago, the Pittsburg Police Officer’s Association was introduced to Janell Proctor who indicated she was running for California State Assembly, District 14. Ms. Proctor showed empathy and compassion for the tough challenges currently facing public safety. Unlike many current political candidates, Ms. Proctor stated that before she could formulate effective solutions to these complicated issues, she needed to fully understand a policing perspective. Ms. Proctor spent countless hours on multiple occasions engaging our association in dialogue for positive change. Ms. Proctor participated in ride-a-longs where she eagerly engaged our officers about important topics such as departmental and community relations, our current homelessness crisis, mental health awareness and de-escalation options. In a time where many politicians are selling solutions absent of a sincere investment towards first fully understanding the problem, Ms. Proctor stood alone in her approach. The Pittsburg Police Officer’s Association firmly believes that through her hard work, genuine dialogue and a logical approach Janell Proctor is exactly the leadership that our community needs in these unprecedented times. We are truly honored to provide our endorsement to her candidacy and fully support her compassionate approach towards supporting our community.” – Pittsburg Police Officer’s Association
Proctor is challenging incumbent Tim Grayson who is seeking his third term in the Assembly. The Contra Costa County portion of District 14 includes Concord, Clayton, Clyde, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Bay Point and Pittsburg. For information on her campaign visit proctor4assembly.com.
Read MoreIt was an exciting day for Oakley and the entire Eastern Contra Costa County community as the ribbon was cut on the brand new Amazon fulfillment facility at the Oakley Logistics Center. (See related article)
The Amazon fulfillment center will occupy the 150,000‐square‐foot Building #1 at the Contra Costa Logistics Center Complex. Once the project is complete (which is anticipated within four years) five buildings, totaling 2 million‐square‐feet will house a variety of light industrial and logistics uses, providing nearly 2,000 jobs to the community.
“Today is a special day in the history of our young city,” said Mayor Kevin Romick, who added that bringing quality jobs to East County is vitally important.
“Oakley is home to some of the last affordable housing in the Bay Area and there is a jobs‐to‐housing imbalance that leads to some of the longest communities in the Bay Area,” said Romick. “But change is coming. We’ve drawn the spotlight to East Contra Costa County and to Oakley in particular. We truly appreciate Amazon’s confidence in their site selection and the opportunity we have here.”
The developer of the Oakley Logistics Center is NorthPoint Development and NorthPoint project manager Joel Schrenk helped cut the ribbon Wednesday morning, along with Mayor Romick, Vice Mayor Sue Higgins, and Oakley Councilmembers Claire Alaura and Michael Krieg
“It’s incredible to think how far we’ve come,” said Shrenk, adding that ground was only broken on the state‐of‐the‐art facility at this beginning of 2020.
During a brief outdoor tour of the facility, Shrenk explained that the fulfillment center is a “last mile” facility for Amazon, expediting shipping for same‐day and possibly even faster transactions.
“It has truly been a joy to work hand‐in‐hand with the City of Oakley and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership,” said Shrenk.
Read MoreBy Scott Alonso, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa County Office of the District Attorney
Recently, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office became aware of a website allegedly run by “Citizens for a Fair East Bay” with false and misleading information regarding town officials in the Town of Moraga and our Office’s involvement with these officials.
Moreover, this anonymous website proclaims a complaint was filed regarding the Town Manager of Moraga. This statement is misleading – our Office has not filed any criminal or civil actions against the Town Manager. Further, the use of our Office logo and website was not authorized by our Office in this manner.
In September, our Office’s public corruption unit received a confidential request to investigative a potential crime. A thorough investigation was conducted, and no further enforcement action was deemed warranted. The matter was closed – no action is being taken by our Office regarding the Town Manager of Moraga.
Asked who handled the investigation and what it entailed, Alonso responded, “DDA Steve Bolen is the attorney who handles these types of cases. We do not comment about the specifics of an investigation like this.”
Further questions were sent to Alonso asking if after an investigation has been completed the DA’s office can’t share how they determined that the claims are baseless and if the evidence isn’t public. He responded, “it will depend on the investigation but generally for these types of investigations we do not comment. Given the website contained false information we felt we had to issue some sort of public statement.”
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
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