Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Clayton, Brentwood Realtors® named 2019 award winners by Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.

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By Michelle Watson, Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.

Weichert Realtors® – America First Team and HH and Associates are proud to announce their 2019 Office Award Winners. The agents were honored by the national franchise organization, Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., based on achieving specified production requirements in gross commission income or units earned in 2019. These Weichert® affiliated agents earned their recognition from among associates in 40 states at the year’s end.

The Weichert – America First Team 2019 Award Winners – Jill Totton, Larry Hansohn, Linda Miller, Michael Arnone, Karen Holmberg and Astrid Jarquin.

America First Team – Clayton

Jill Totton – Sales Achievement; Larry Hansohn – Sales Achievement; Linda Miller – Sales Achievement; Michael Arnone – Sales Achievement; Karen Holmberg – Sales Achievement; and Astrid Jarquin – Sales Achievement.

Weichert – HH & Associates 2019 Award Winners Delia Colmenares, Jessica Enos, Ronald J. Enos, Emil Geddes, Mandy Kay Myhand-Teputepu and Naomi Longoria.

HH and Associates – Brentwood

Delia Colmenares – President’s Club (Gold); Jessica Enos – Executive Club; Ronald J. Enos – Executive Club; Emil Geddes – Sales Achievement; Mandy Kay Myhand-Teputepu – Sales Achievement; and Naomi Longoria – Sales Achievement.

“Our affiliates accomplished so much last year,” said Bill Scavone, president and chief operating officer of Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. “We are extremely fortunate to have such knowledgeable, dedicated and tireless Realtors.”

Weichert Realtors® – America First Team is an independently owned and operated Weichert affiliated office and located at 1520 Kirker Pass Road, Suite A in Clayton. For more information about Weichert Realtors® – America First Team, please contact Broker/Owner Julie Rogers at 925-672-9091, email jrogers@weichert.com or visit their Weichert website.

Weichert Realtors® – HH and Associates is owned by Broker Maggie Hurtado and Dave Hansen.

“No words can express the gratitude I feel towards our agents. With combined experience and knowledge, I couldn’t ask for a better team,” Hurtado said. “As we continue to serve the families and community we live in I’m very proud to say we not only offer buying and selling homes, land and commercial, I can honestly say we do it with integrity and always put our clients, first.”

“This special award-winning group is the reason we’re not just about real estate, we’re a family,” she added.

Weichert Realtors® – HH and Associates is an independently owned and operated Weichert affiliated office and located at 9000 Brentwood Blvd., Suite C in Brentwood. For more information please contact Maggie Hurtado or Dave Hansen at (925) 634-4611, email MargaretHurtado@sbcglobal.net or DHansen@HHandAssociates.com, or visit their Weichert website.

About Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.

Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. has grown steadily since Jim Weichert, president, chairman and CEO of Weichert Companies, launched the company’s franchise division in 2001. The affiliate division was created to offer a business model for franchisee ownership candidates described as “a clearly defined operating system for marketing and managing a real estate business.”

Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. announced its first affiliate in 2002, was ranked as one of the top traditional residential real estate franchises in Entrepreneur’s 2020 Franchise 500 and was identified in 2020 by Franchise Business Review as one of the top U.S. franchises for owner satisfaction. Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. has offices serving over 350 markets in 40 states. For more information about Weichert, visit Weichert.com or for information on franchise opportunities visit WeichertFranchise.com. Each Weichert® franchised office is independently owned and operated.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

California Judicial Council adopts new rules to lower jail population, sets bail at $0, suspends evictions and foreclosures

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Judicial Council Chair, Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye ran the teleconference call from the council’s office in Sacramento on Monday. Photo by JCC.

11 temporary emergency rules include $0 statewide bail for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies during COVID-19 pandemic to “safely reduce jail populations”

By Blaine Corren, Senior Communications and Public Affairs Analyst, California Judicial Council

VIA TELECONFERENCE—At its meeting on Monday, April 6, 2020, the Judicial Council of California approved 11 temporary emergency rules, including setting bail statewide at $0 for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies to “safely reduce jail populations” and staying eviction and foreclosure proceedings to protect Californians from losing their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was the second emergency council meeting of court and branch leaders from around the state to consider further measures to ensure California courts—which remain open as “essential services” under Gov. Newsom’s stay-home executive order—can meet stringent health directives while also providing due process and access to justice.

“We are at this point truly with no guidance in history, law, or precedent,” said Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, chair of the council. “And to say that there is no playbook is a gross understatement of the situation. In developing these rules, we listened to suggestions from our justice system partners, the public, and the courts, and we greatly appreciate all of the input. Working with our court stakeholders, I’m confident we can preserve the rule of law and protect the rights of victims, the accused, litigants, families and children, and all who seek justice. It’s truly a team effort.”

Members of the Judicial Council of California. Photo from 2018 by JCC.

The council received and considered more than 100 written comments on the new rules from judges, public defenders, district attorneys, law enforcement, legal aid and advocacy groups, unions, attorneys, court reporters, interpreters, and other justice system partners.

Among the actions the council approved, to go into effect immediately:

  • Suspend the entry of defaults in eviction cases;
  • Suspend judicial foreclosures;
  • Allow courts to require judicial proceedings and court operations be conducted remotely, with the defendant’s consent in criminal proceedings;
  • Adopt a statewide emergency bail schedule that sets bail at $0 for most misdemeanor and lower-level felony offenses;
  • Allow defendants to appear via counsel or remote technologies for pretrial criminal hearings;
  • Prioritize hearings and orders in juvenile justice proceedings and set a structure for remote hearings and continuances
  • Extend the timeframes for specified temporary restraining orders;
  • Extend the statutes of limitations governing civil actions; and
  • Allow electronic depositions in civil cases.

The council previously approved a number of temporary measures at its first emergency meeting Mar. 28 to give courts flexibility to continue to provide essential services to the public while protecting health and safety during the pandemic.

For a complete list of emergency orders taken by the California court system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, see the California Courts Newsroom.

About the Judicial Council

Under the leadership of the Chief Justice and in accordance with the California Constitution, the council is responsible for ensuring the consistent, independent, impartial, and accessible administration of justice. Judicial Council staff implements the council’s policies.

Brentwood middle school girl makes masks for local healthcare workers

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Haley Wieland sews masks at home and delivers them to Sutter Health offices in Antioch.

Haley during better times.

By Allen Payton

Haley Wieland is setting aside her feelings and doing something for others during the coronavirus pandemic. While the straight-A, 8th grade student at Bristow Middle School in Brentwood is really bummed about not being in school, she decided to make the most of her time during the shelter in place and sew masks for healthcare workers in Antioch, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, and Oakley.

Haley is sad to miss her 8th grade dance, promotion, and other fun planned activities with her friends. But she’s maintaining a good attitude.

“I feel everyone should pull together and support our hard-working healthcare workers during this pandemic,” she said.

Haley was selected to be part of a program at school called WEB, which stands for Where Everyone Belongs. They help out their community and peers throughout the school year. Now, she’s applying that same approach to helping the healthcare community in East County.

Contra Costa coronavirus Update: Now 442 cases, 7 total deaths

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By Allen Payton

As of Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is reporting a total of 442 cases of COVID-19/coronavirus, and two more deaths for a total of 7 in the county. There are 29 people diagnosed with the virus currently hospitalized, a decrease of three since Friday.

A total of 5,831 people have been tested for the virus. To see the all the statistics provided by CCHS, click here.

Sheriff’s Deputies arrest Oakley man for shooting of woman near Oakley Monday night

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For attempted murder, assault, burglary and drug charges. Suspect has criminal record with multiple arrests dating back to 2014. 

By Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff

On Monday, April 6, 2020, at about 9:38 PM, Deputy Sheriffs were dispatched to a report of a shooting at the 2600 block of Dutch Slough Road in unincorporated Contra Costa County.

Deputies arrived on scene finding a 35-year-old woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her leg. The suspect reportedly fled the scene. The woman was transported by helicopter to John Muir Walnut Creek, according to Battalion Chief Craig Auzene of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

A Sheriff’s Office K-9 located the suspect hiding nearby in a shed on Dutch Slough Road. He surrendered and was taken into custody.

The suspect is identified as 44-year-old Terrell Medley of Oakley. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on charges that include attempted murder, assault, burglary, and drug charges. Medley also had two warrants for his arrest. He is being held in lieu of $1,130,000 bail.

According to localcrimenews.com, Medley has a history of arrests dating back to 2014, including use/under the influence of a controlled substance in San Mateo on Oct. 14, 2014; possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia in Contra Costa County on Nov. 6, 2015; on Jan. 31, 2018 by the Antioch Police for a bench Warrant/failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge; for warrants/holds only in Contra Costa County on Dec. 1, 2018; and then again for violation of probation in San Mateo County on Dec. 3, 2018.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with any information on this case is asked to contact the Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600. For any tips, email: tips@so.cccounty.us or call (866) 846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

BART to run every 30 minutes Monday-Friday starting Wednesday April 8

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Ridership down 93% – “Ridership is now at 7% of what is usual” – General Manager Bob Powers

As the Bay Area counties have now extended mandatory shelter in place orders, BART service needs to be reduced to match demand, increase essential rebuilding projects, save costs, and maintain reliable service based on staffing levels. Starting Wednesday, April 8, Monday-Friday service will run every 30 minutes until further notice.  Ridership data shows social distancing remains possible on all trains with this change.  Effectively, every other train is being cancelled Monday-Friday.

Reducing service also allows greater flexibility to maintain stable service should BART employees need to take time off due to illness or to care for children and family members.

This move will potentially save the operating budget $3-7 million per month. The savings is realized by shifting employees to capital improvement projects that are not funded by the operating budget. BART is using this time of historically low ridership to focus on essential infrastructure projects that typically are very disruptive to riders or can only be accomplished during overnight hours. These rebuilding efforts have been designated as essential public works projects per the region’s public health orders issued in response to the coronavirus.

3-line service will start earlier in the evening

Starting Wednesday, BART will move up the time the Warm Springs-Daly City (Green) and Richmond-Millbrae (Red) lines that provide direct service to/from San Francisco end and 3-line service begins.  This will allow for a longer work window for power cable replacement in San Francisco.  The last two train dispatches in both directions on these lines will be cancelled and single tracking in San Francisco will begin around 8pm.

  • The last Warm Springs-Daly City (Green) line train departs Warm Springs at 5:16pm and arrives at Daly City at 6:26pm.  It then departs Daly City at 6:43pm and arrives at Warm Springs at 7:54pm.
  • The last Richmond-Millbrae (Red) line train departs Richmond at 5:41pm and arrives at Millbrae 6:51pm. It then departs at Millbrae at 7:18pm and arrives at Richmond at 8:24pm.

There is only one hole in the new 30-minute schedule.  It is on the Red line departing from Millbrae at 6:18pm. To avoid this gap, customers should board the SFO shuttle from Millbrae at 6pm and connect with the Antioch line train at SFO at 6:26pm and then transfer at MacArthur at 7:10pm to the Richmond train.

Plan your trip to avoid waiting

PDFs of the new schedule will be available on bart.gov tomorrow (Tuesday). Riders can use the PDF schedule to start planning their trips and what time they should arrive at the station to avoid a long wait.  Riders can also check real time departures before heading to the station.   Staff is updating the online Trip Planner to reflect the new service plan and to show every other train as cancelled.
For personalized trip planning assistance, call the Transit Information Center at 510-465-2278 from 8am-6pm, Monday-Friday.

“Ridership is now at 7% of what is usual, and these changes allow us to increase essential rebuilding projects while also ensuring we can provide reliable and predictable service,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “With so many unknowns about the length of the shelter in place orders and the timing of recovery, we must take steps to protect the operating budget while also protecting our ability to run service every 30 minutes.”

A change in the BART schedule can only be implemented by doubling headways (train frequency) because the service plan is tied to operational patterns such as timed transfers and train operator reporting times and locations.  This is the reason why we can’t go to 20 or 24 minute headways Monday-Friday.

Weekend service unchanged

Weekend service will remain unchanged.  The decision to not change weekend service at this time is to avoid doubling weekend headways. Reducing service on the weekend would mean Saturday service would need to go to 40-minute headways and Sunday service would go to 48-minute headways. At this time, that level of service reduction is not something BART is ready to implement but may need to do so in the future if circumstances change.

Shifting workers to rebuilding projects

Running fewer trains means crews can be redeployed to other projects.  Maintenance and Engineering staff can now increase the hours of cable replacement in San Francisco and begin work on cable replacement in the East Bay and crews can perform relighting work in the Caldecott BART Tunnel. Train car mechanics can now be put into Fleet of the Future training.
This plan calls for up to 400 employees to be shifted to capital projects. However, this number can change if employees are pulled off a project to prioritize passenger service if staffing levels reduce.
Early FY21 budget estimates show a bleak scenario of possible budget shortfalls of $258 million to $452 million.  The federal stimulus funds will help bridge some of the gap, but it is not expected to fill all of it moving forward.

Summary of temporary service cuts to date

  • Extra commute trains on the Antioch-SFO (yellow) line were eliminated on Thursday March 19.
  • Monday-Friday service is 5am-9pm (previously 5am-Midnight) began on Monday, March 23.
  • Saturday-Sunday service is 8am-9pm (previously Saturday service started at 6am) began on Saturday, March 28.
  • Starting Wednesday, April 8, Monday-Friday service will run every 30 minutes systemwide all day, with 3-line service beginning earlier in the evening and single tracking in San Francisco starting at around 8pm.

 

DUI driver crashes off Highway 4 in Martinez Sunday afternoon

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Photo by Martinez Police Department.

By CHP – Contra Costa

Today at about 4:50pm, Contra Costa CHP units were advised of a solo vehicle collision off the roadway on Hwy-4 westbound just east of Pine Street in Martinez. Upon CHP and emergency personnel arrival, a solo white Toyota Corolla had crashed completely off Hwy-4, overturned and landed on its roof and into a fire hydrant on Arnold Drive (north of Hwy-4).

The 26-year-old male driver of the Toyota suffered major injuries. He was also suspected of driving under the influence.

The driver, Michael Moore from Martinez, was transported to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek for his injuries. While at the hospital, Moore was investigated and arrested for DUI. Due to his injuries, he was admitted to the hospital and will remain there for an unknown amount of time.

There is no reason to drive impaired and risk injuries to yourself or others. There are many responsible choices available to get home safely. Please utilize them and never drive impaired.

 

County’s coronavirus/COVID-19 dashboard now shows number of cases by city or community

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By Allen Payton

As of Sunday, April 5, 2020 Contra Costa Health Services now shows a break down of how many cases are in each city or community on the coronavirus dashboard on their website. Richmond has the most with 37, followed by Orinda with 33 – 27 of which were from the senior care home, then Pittsburg with 28, Walnut Creek with 26 and then both Concord and Antioch have the fifth most with 24. They’re followed closely by San Ramon with 23, San Pablo with 22 and Brentwood with 21.

In a post on Sunday, Chair of the Contra Costa County Board off Supervisors Candace Andersen shared the following information: “Contra Costa County Health’s Dashboard is now breaking down COVID-19 cases by city. Please keep in mind that this is not per capita, and our cities all have different sized populations. It shows there is “community spread” throughout the County. Please continue to Shelter in Home, and put on a mask or face covering those limited times you are out in public.”

UPDATE: the dashboard now provides a statistic showing cases per 100,000 population for each city and community, with a countywide average of 33.

Contra Costa issues mass isolation and quarantine orders for people with COVID-19 and their close contacts

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Latest county stats: 4,929 tested, 353 cases, 31 currently hospitalized, 5 deaths as of Saturday morning, April 4

“Our resources are stretched extremely thin and business as usual is not an option.” – Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano

From Contra Costa Health Services

Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano announced Friday evening that the county is issuing a mass order for residents with COVID-19 and their close contacts to isolate and quarantine themselves.

The mass order is being issued to help slow COVID-19’s spread, protect vulnerable individuals, and prevent the healthcare system in the County from being overwhelmed. The county’s public health staff no longer have the capacity to individually notify and track everyone with COVID-19 and their close contacts who may have been exposed to the virus.  

As of Friday, 307 county residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and five people have died from the virus. Contra Costa County had no local cases at the beginning of March.

“We’ve reached a critical point in the COVID-19 crisis here in Contra Costa,” Dr. Farnitano said. “Our resources are stretched extremely thin and business as usual is not an option. We believe this mass order is a creative and effective way of getting the job done to keep the sick isolated from others.”

Residents must isolate themselves in their home or another residence if they test positive for COVID-19. They may not leave their home except to receive necessary medical care or during an emergency that requires evacuation.  

COVID-positive individuals without symptoms must isolate for 7 days from the date of a positive test. Those with symptoms must isolate at least 7 days have passed since their symptoms started. Initially symptomatic people must also wait at least 72 hours have passed since after symptoms go away. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.

County residents who test positive for COVID-19 will now be required to tell their close contacts that they need to quarantine themselves if they may have been exposed. Close contacts must then remain at home or another residence for 14 days from the last date that they were in contact with the person infected or with COVID-19.

People considered “close contacts” are persons who, during the sick individual’s infectious period, live in, or have stayed overnight, at the individual’s residence; are intimate sexual partners of the individual; or provided care to the individual without wearing a mask, gown, and gloves.

People can access instructions on how to isolate and quarantine themselves at cchealth.org/coronavirus.

Contra Costa COVID-19 Update: Now 305 cases, two more deaths

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Cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Contra Costa County from the CCHS dashboard.

As of Friday, April 3, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is reporting 31 more cases of COVID-19/coronavirus for a total of 305, and two more deaths in the county. There are 32 people diagnosed with the virus currently hospitalized, an increase of just one from Thursday’s update.

27 of the new cases are from the senior care home in Orinda. (See related article)

To see the all the statistics provided by CCHS, click here.