Contra Costa Herald

Reps. DeSaulnier, McNerney, and Thompson, and Pres. Trump. Official photos.

Washington, DC – Today, with 13 days remaining in President Trump’s term in office, and following the lead of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blaming him for inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D, CA-11) issued the following statement about the attack and calling for Trump to be immediately removed from office.

“Yesterday, the United States Capitol was invaded by a mob that was quite deliberately incited by the current President of the United States. It is a miracle that there was not greater carnage and loss of life. Donald Trump should not be in office for one moment longer, and should never again be allowed to hold office. He has defiled his sacred oath.

The 25th Amendment should be immediately invoked to remove the President from control. If the Vice President and Cabinet refuse to take action, Donald Trump should be impeached as rapidly as possible. What we have seen from him over the last four years and beyond is a clear disrespect for rule of law and the Constitution except as it suits him. We cannot let this go. History will not forgive him, and if we are silent it will not forgive us.”

According to an NBC Bay Area report, Rep. Jerry McNerney (D, CA-9) and Mike Thompson (D, CA-5) who also represent portions of Contra Costa County, support removing Trump immediately, as well.

The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows:

Section 1 – In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2 – Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3 – Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4 – Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Bailey Road/State Route 4 Interchange Pedestrian/Bicycle Project contract approved 

By Daniel Borsuk

With threats streaming from several citizens hanging over Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors that they would be “voted out of office” unless the elected officials either rejected or further studied a request from Contra Costa County Recorder and Registrar of Voters Debbie Cooper to award a third contract extension to Barcelona, Spain-based Scytl at an additional price tag of $200,000, supervisors moved ahead and unanimously approved the contract extension at Tuesday’s meeting.

Moments earlier supervisors, who had elevated District 3 Supervisor Dianne Burgis of Brentwood to chairperson and District 5 Supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg to vice chairperson for 2021, were unmoved by the threats. Several unidentified speakers requested supervisors to either pull the consent item for further consideration or to disapprove Registrar of Voters Cooper’s request to extend the contract of Scytl, formerly called SOE Clarity Suite when it was acquired by Scytl in 2012.

The contract with Contra Costa County has been in effect since 2015. The supervisors’ action boosted the payment to Scytl by $200,00 to a new total contract payment of $590,000.

Scytle, whose SOE Software division was founded in 2002 in Tampa Bay, Florida, filed for bankruptcy, last May. According to an October 22, 2020 article on Scytle’s website, “Service Point Solutions, part of Paragon Group, announces the acquisition of Scytl, the Barcelona based company leader in digital voting and electoral modernization.” Paragon Group is also based in Barcelona.

The article further states, the “acquisition unveils Paragon’s group strategy to position Service Point Solutions as a pan-european platform for high-growth digital business.”

Scytle has been accused of being part of the effort to change votes in the November elections from President Trump to President-Elect Biden, in coordination with Dominion Voters Systems machines, which have also been used in Contra Costa County since 2018. (See related article)

“You are not providing proper oversight concerning this contractor,” said one disgruntled caller. “If you don’t improve, we’ll vote you out of office.”

Supervisors were not bullied by the threat or appeals from other anonymous speakers.  Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond said, “I will not let those promoting the election conspiracy line since 2015 to sway me.”

“We need to start to post these contracts,” said Supervisor Karen Mitchoff of Pleasant Hill, who is reportedly serving the last two years of her final term in office.  “The public needs to see these requests for proposals.”

Supervisor Mitchoff reacted to one unidentified speaker’s complaint that this contract lacked adequate public notice.

In response to questions about Scytle software, Supervisor Candace Andersen wrote that she had her staff research it and that “It appears to be a non-issue. We’re not purchasing equipment – it is renewing contract for website software. European company bought an American company that we have been doing business with them from 2007. Web hosting and election night reporting. Software where we upload our results and changes to pretty graphics seen on the website.  It does not have any impact on election integrity.”

Contra Costa County Clerk/Recorder and Registrar of Voters Debi Cooper also responded, “SOE (Scytl) does not provide any direct election services and is not connected to systems involved with tallying our election results. SOE provides our web hosting and election night reporting graphical support. Our election tally process is done separately on a system that is not connected to the internet. We take information from our tally system to upload information to the website. We originally contracted with SOE in 2007 after conducting an RFP process. SOE was the only respondent that met our needs for election night reporting. SOE was acquired by Scytl in 2014 while we were under contract with SOE. They continue to provide services to many state and local jurisdictions across this country.”

Some speakers charged the county is illegally doing business with a foreign-based company, allegedly operating out of Frankfurt, Germany, although according to Scytl’s website, “Scytl has no presence in Frankfurt, Germany.”

In response to the allegations against the company during the 2020 elections, Scytl posted information on their website stating the following: “The technologies implemented by Scytl in the US are both hosted and managed within the US, by a local subsidiary, SOE Software, based in Tampa, Florida.”

In addition, the Scytl website explains that the election data reporting company has “no political affiliations of any kind.”  The statement further rebukes statements that it provides any electronic voting machines in the U.S. and “does not tabulate, tally or count votes in U.S public elections.”

Burgis Becomes Chair, Glover Vice Chair

Earlier Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D.- Concord) remotely administered the oath of office to District 3 Supervisor Burgis, who was sworn into office as Chair of the Board for 2021, and District 5 Supervisor Glover, who was re-elected to his sixth four-year term and will serve as vice chair.

Burgis and Glover, who commences his sixth four-year term of office, along with three other supervisors will oversee the disbursement of the county’s $3.98 billion budget in 2021.

Upon succeeding District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen of Danville as Chair, Burgis said, “I want to bring the Northern Waterfront Plan home.

I want to see the benefits coming from it,” Burgis said as one of her key platform issues along with development of the Byron and Buchanan airports, fire department consolidation, and countywide economic recovery during the upcoming post COVID-19 era.

In a prepared statement, Burgis said:

“I appreciate Supervisor Andersen’s unwavering commitment to keeping our residents safe and keeping the county moving forward while addressing the impacts of COVID-19.  As chair, I intend to work with my colleagues to support our county health officer to get the coronavirus under control, move the county toward economic recovery for all residents and businesses, enhance mental health crisis response, reform our juvenile justice system, address racial injustice and inequality, protect the Delta, and proactively fight climate change, and, at long last, provide sustainable fire protection services to all areas of the county.  I’m excited about our year ahead and ready to get to work.”

Glover said, “Dianne, I appreciate being your wingman, even though my chief boss is Janice Glover (Glover’s wife).”  The veteran office holder said 2020 was a year where county workers, especially those in public health and first responders, had to learn on the go.  “None of this is written in a book,” said Glover.

Outgoing chair Andersen, who was given a photography book by the Mt. Diablo photographer Steven Joseph, said 2020 was “a year unlike any other” marked by citizens sickened or killed during COVID-19 pandemic, left homeless, having to shutter small businesses, and a host of economic medical and social issues fanned by COVID-19.

Bailey Road/State Route 4 Interchange Pedestrian/Bicycle Project Contract Approved 

In a consent action, Supervisors approved a $3.7 million contract with Bay Cities Paving and Grading Inc. to construct the Bailey Road/State Route 4 Interchange Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvement Project.  Bay Cities Paving and Grading submitted the lowest and most responsible bid from a field of six other construction companies competing for the federally funded project.

The Bay Cities Paving and Grading submission beat submissions from Granite Rock Co, $3,859,608; Ghilotti Construction Co., Inc., $3,930,295.50; Ghilotti Bros. Inc., $3,972,887; O.C. Jones & Sons Inc., $3,996,733; Gordon N. Ball, Inc., $4,123,732; and Granite Construction Co., $4,864,644.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Sand and water dredged from the San Joaquin River are pumped onto Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in October. The water will return to the river through outfall pipes, leaving the sand behind. Credit: Mark Hayes/USFWS

Sand from the Port of Stockton is restoring a unique refuge

By Brandon Honig, External Affairs Specialist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Over thousands of years, the shifting sands of time built dunes that reached 120 feet high and stretched for two miles along the San Joaquin River, about 35 miles east of San Francisco. Isolated from similar habitats, the Antioch Dunes slowly developed species found nowhere else in the world.

The gradual shifting of sand, however, was replaced by a rapid effort to turn it into bricks in 1906, after a devastating earthquake and fires demolished buildings in San Francisco. As industry depleted the sand over the next 70 years, the dunes’ unique species struggled to survive on dunes that eventually topped out at 50 feet.

Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) and Port of Stockton are trying to turn back the clock, one load of sand at a time. Since 2013, the Port has pumped nearly 92,000 cubic yards of sand — enough to fill more than 6,500 dump trucks — onto the dunes to support three endangered species: the Lange’s metalmark butterfly, Antioch Dunes evening primrose and Contra Costa wallflower.

There may be fewer than 50 Lange’s metalmark butterflies remaining today, down from an estimated 25,000 between 50 and 100 years ago. The butterfly is only found at Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS

“The population of Lange’s has been trending downward for a couple of decades now,” said Mark Hayes, a biologist with the Service’s San Francisco Bay-Delta Office. “We counted about 10 butterflies in 2020, and the total population is very likely less than 50 currently. This is precariously low.”

The orange, black and white butterfly with a wingspan of 1 to 1.5 inches, whose population likely numbered 25,000 less than a century ago, was listed as endangered in 1976. The white-petaled primrose and yellow-petaled wallflower followed with listings in 1978.

The Service established Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge for the three species in 1980, making it the first national refuge for insects and plants. At the time, the 55-acre urban refuge with two non-adjacent units was also the nation’s smallest.

partnership with the Port of Stockton. The landscape to the right shows refuge land that has not yet been restored with sand. Credit: Brandon Honig/USFWS

“This is a very industrial neighborhood we’re tucked into,” Louis Terrazas, a wildlife resource specialist for the refuge, said of Antioch Dunes. “There’s a shipyard on one side, a gypsum-processing plant, an old water-treatment facility over there and two strips of land owned by Pacific Gas and Electric.”

As sand disappeared in the 20th century, non-native grasses and plants took hold, crowding out the primrose, the wallflower and the Antioch Dunes buckwheat, which is the only plant where the Lange’s butterfly will lay its eggs. In the early 2000s, a series of wildfires further cut the butterfly population, leaving only about 100 alive in 2010 — all on the refuge’s 14-acre eastern unit.

With no butterflies to protect on the western unit, the Service decided to overhaul that site and try to restore the conditions that had once enabled the dunes’ endangered species to thrive. Refuge staff began looking for sources of sand in 2012 and were soon contacted by the Port of Stockton.

Beachgoers lounge on an Antioch, California, sand dune in the early 1900s, before much of the sand was mined for building materials. Credit: Contra Costa County Historical Society

The Army Corps of Engineers dredges sand from the San Joaquin River each year to clear passage for cargo ships, and the Port is responsible for finding sites to place the sand. The Port typically sent sand to nearby Sherman Island, but saw an opportunity to make a real impact at Antioch Dunes.

“Our board has been pushing us to reach out and find projects like this — ways we can go above and beyond the normal regulations to try to have a beneficial impact on the [Sacramento-San Joaquin River] Delta,” said Jeff Wingfield, the Port of Stockton’s director of environmental and public affairs. “It costs us a little extra in time and prepping the site and some other little work, but for us it’s important to beneficially reuse the material.”

Since the Port’s first delivery in 2013, the evening primrose has experienced a huge jump in numbers, Terrazas said, and the wallflower and buckwheat are also reappearing. Eventually the refuge hopes to re-establish the Lange’s butterfly on the western unit as well.

The Contra Costa Wallflower, right, and Antioch Dunes evening primrose live side by side at Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, the only national refuge established to protect plants and insects. Credit: Susan Euing/USFWS

To fully restore the refuge’s dune system, the Service could continue taking sand deposits for a couple of decades, Terrazas said, which might not be possible without the Port partnership.

“We bought some sand from another site in 2009, but it was really expensive, and the sand material had some non-native species in it,” he said. “We decided it was not the best method of restoring the site.”

The endangered Antioch Dunes evening primrose has shown a huge jump in numbers since dune-restoration began in 2013. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS

Under the current method, the Port provides and delivers clean sand, and it doesn’t cost the Service a dollar. USFW staff devotes a great deal of time to this project, but the sand itself and the labor to place it at the Antioch Dunes are donated.

“Restoring the dunes is vitally important to the refuge’s ecosystem and could be the key to long-term preservation of its endangered species,” Hayes said. “We value our partnership with the Port and hope this continues as we implement our restoration plan.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are pleased to announce the release of the Plan Bay Area 2050 Final Blueprint Outcomes – a major milestone in the development of Plan Bay Area 2050, the Bay Area’s long-range plan to guide the growth of our nine-county region for the next generation. The Plan Bay Area 2050 Final Blueprint, which is made up of the strategies, growth geographies, and regional growth forecast was approved by MTC and ABAG in September 2020.

Building on analyses of the Draft Blueprint, the Final Blueprint includes a set of 35 revised and expanded strategies to tackle the Bay Area’s transportation, housing, economic and environmental challenges while creating a more resilient and equitable future for the Bay Area. These strategies are either public policies or sets of investments that can be implemented in the Bay Area over the next 30 years.

Over the last several months, MTC and ABAG staff analyzed these strategies to determine how much more progress the Bay Area makes toward reaching Plan Bay Area 2050’s vision of ensuring by 2050 that the region is affordable, connected, diverse, healthy and vibrant for all. This analysis shows that continued progress has been made due to the new and expanded strategies featured in the Final Blueprint. The 35 strategies featured in the plan demonstrate how the region can:

• Achieve the Bay Area’s 19% greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, as set by the California Air Resources Board;
• Reduce overall housing and transportation costs for residents, especially for households with lower incomes;
• Increase the production and preservation of affordable housing;
• Create a more accessible and reliable transit network;
• Reduce the risk of displacement for people with lower incomes;
• Invest in parks and open spaces, particularly in historically disinvested communities;
• Increase resilience against wildfires and sea level rise; and
• Support a thriving economy with a more balanced regional pattern of jobs and housing.

Read more about the Final Blueprint strategies and their outcomes on planbayarea.org.

Staff will seek adoption of the Final Blueprint as the Preferred Alternative for environmental analysis purposes by the Commission and ABAG Executive Board in January 2021.

Related: Plan Bay Area, Plan Bay Area 2050, RHNA

At BART, we are firm believers that by thinking strategically, working hard, and engaging community, we can and will achieve remarkable things. With that, we chose to end 2020 with optimism.

Here is a list of 50 BART accomplishments in 2020.

Let’s start with improvements to the rider experience:

• We now have 17 Fleet of the Future trains in service
• We opened Berryessa and Milpitas Stations
• We began offering 20% fare discount for eligible low-income riders with Clipper Start

We launched some new features:

• Contactless parking payment via the official BART app
• Customized in-app notifications to make it easy to get the information you need
• Option to text BART police (510) 200-0992
• An online merchandise store so you can celebrate your love for BART

We took big steps forward on exciting multi-year projects:

• Awarded the contract to design and build a modern Communications Based Train Control System that will dramatically improve future BART service
• Awarded the contract for BART’s Digital Railway project to bring next-generation wireless connectivity to riders across the system
• Awarded contracts and began construction to build 22 canopies over entrances at BART stations along Market St. in downtown San Francisco
• Began construction to replace 41 escalators at downtown San Francisco stations
• Initiated Fare Coordination & Integration Study with MTC and regional transit agencies

We made changes within policing:

• Hired Ed Alvarez, a 23-year veteran of the BART Police Department, bringing a new vision for safety
• Created a train team of 12 police officers dedicated to riding trains and walking platforms on nights and weekends
• Launched the successful and award-winning unarmed Ambassador Pilot and formalized the program
• Hired 35 officers, bringing vacancies to a new low of 20
• Established the new Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau within BPD

We advanced police reforms:

• Began Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (ICAT) training to give officers the skills to safely defuse critical incidents with people experiencing a mental health crisis
• Banned the use of the Carotid Control Hold
• Expanded the officer-worn body camera activation buffer with new audio requirement
• Held 16 stakeholder outreach meetings to solicit feed-back on new public safety approaches with 1000 survey responses

We focused on infrastructure:

• Completed two major track rebuilding projects at Orinda and Hayward
• Accelerated 34.5kV power cable replacement, rail profiling, rail and third rail replacement, tunnel waterproofing, lighting projects and more

We continued efforts to modernize our stations:

• Began construction for 19th Street Oakland Station Modernization; advanced modernization construction at Powell Street and El Cerrito del Norte stations
• Designed and installed new swing style fare gates with a dramatic costs savings due to innovation while also uncoupling BART from a single vendor
• Started construction of energy-efficient lighting upgrades across 14 parking structures, saving the District approximately $22M in energy and maintenance costs over 20 years
• Awarded $3.5 million in Cycle 1 of Measure RR Safe Routes to BART Grant Program to four cities to improve last mile bike/ped access to BART stations

We supported local, small businesses:

• Hosted 44 outreach and matchmaking events between small businesses and Primes to increase opportunities available to small businesse, helping to continue essential construction projects
• Awarded a Progressive Design-Build contract for the new BART Headquarters in Oakland with 32% small business participation

We continued our Transit Oriented Development (TOD) efforts:

• Adopted AB 2923 development principles and released BART’s TOD Work Plan
• Amended policy to support the production of affordable housing by allowing for a discount of up to 60% from fair market value for land for projects with affordable housing
• Approved plans for development at West Oakland Station that includes 762 housing units, 30% affordable
• Selected development team to advance development at El Cerrito Plaza Station
• Our development partners completed over 600 new homes during the pandemic, and broke ground on 400 new homes, 150,000sf of office, & 164 room hotel

We focused on financial stability:

• Secured AAA bond rating
• Advocated for and secured emergency relief funds
• Secured dedicated funding for our long-term efforts to reduce crowding and increase service:
  • Full Funding Grant Agreement for FTA Capital Investment Grant ($1.169B)
  • California Transit and Intercity Rail Program ($107M)
  • California Solutions for Congested Corridors ($60M)

We invested in our employees:

• Developed an emergency budget plan to avoid lay-offs
• Approved new labor contracts more than 6 months early
• 16 employees from 10 departments completed the Government Alliance on Race and Equity training series and established a Race and Equity Action Plan
• Increased inventory and distribution of PPE and disinfecting products, deployed free COVID testing and contact tracing

We prioritized COVID-19 response:

• Was one of the first transit agencies in the U.S. to release a comprehensive pandemic response plan with the launch of the 15-Step Welcome Back Plan
• Made available free masks at all stations
• Offered free hand sanitizer stations systemwide
• Sharing crowding data 
• Testing disinfecting technologies and upgraded air filters
• Reprioritized cleaning schedules to ensure all train cars are sprayed with disinfecting mist every 24 hours
• Coordinated with the region’s transit systems to develop the Healthy Transit Plan, establishing a baseline set of COVID-19 response measures across all systems
• Accelerated efforts for a contactless experience with 100% Clipper only conversion systemwide
• Partnered with community organizations, county officials and medical groups to provide free COVID-19 testing in our parking lots and plazas

Terence “Terene” Brown. Photo: SRPD

By San Ramon Police Department

San Ramon PD needs your assistance.

On New Year’s Eve San Ramon PD officers responded to the 100 block of Amberstone Lane for a shooting.

The victim was life flighted to a local hospital and is in stable condition.

The suspect was identified as 19-year-old San Ramon resident Terence “Terene” Brown who fled the location. Brown is wanted for assault with a deadly weapon. The firearm has not been accounted for.

If you have any information about Brown’s whereabouts please contact SRPD at 925.973.2779 or 9-1-1.

I680/SR4-Interchange. Photo: CCTA

Region receives 20 percent of statewide awards, $18 million for Contra Costa project

Bay Area highway, transit and goods-movement projects this week earned more than $400 million in new funding as the California Transportation Commission (CTC) finalized a new round of awards through a trio of competitive statewide programs established by the Senate Bill 1 transportation investment package signed into law in 2017.

MTC will work with Caltrans, BART and county transportation agencies to deliver 11 crucial projects around the Bay Area, which together earned about 20 percent of the total $2.046 billion awarded by the CTC through the Solutions for Congested Corridors, Trade Corridor Enhancement and Local Partnership programs.

“SB 1 money is essential to keeping the California economy moving, not just through the current crisis, but into the post-pandemic future,” said MTC Chairman and Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty. “The Bay Area’s success in the stiff competition for these dollars reflects the clear need to modernize our freeways, transit systems and freight corridors to maintain the Bay Area’s position as an engine for economic growth throughout the state.”

Among the allocations approved through the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program are:

• $18 million for the final design of further improvements to the Interstate 680/State Route 4 Interchange in Contra Costa County.
• $123 million to complete a $275 million funding package for construction to begin in 2021 on 18 miles of Express Lanes along Interstate 80 through the heart of Solano County, providing travelers a reliable trip through this vital artery connecting the Bay Area to Sacramento. The express lanes will also support express buses in the corridor and encourage carpooling as an alternative to single-occupant vehicles.
• $55 million to complete a $101 million funding package for transforming the outdated two-lane connector between U.S. 101 and State Route 25 in southern Santa Clara Countyto a new four-lane connector with shoulders and bike lanes. The project, set to begin construction in 2022, will improve traffic flow and decrease backups on U.S. 101.
• $24 million to complete final design for a new Cordelia Truck Scales facility along westbound I-80 in Solano County.

SB 1 funds awarded through the Local Partnership Program include:

• $25 million to complete the Interstate 680 Southbound Express Lanes project in Alameda County.
• $25 million for improvements to the U.S. 101/De La Cruz/Trimble interchange just north of the Mineta San Jose International Airport in Santa Clara County.
• $9 million for San Francisco’s Mission/Geneva Safety Improvements project.
• $3 million to Sonoma Countyfor the Windsor River Road/Windsor Road Intersection Improvements and Pathway project.

The largest of the CTC’s new allocations to Bay Area projects through the Solutions for Congested Corridors program is $60 million to enable BART to begin construction next year on its $1 billion Train Control Modernization Project, part of the agency’s Transbay Core Capacity Program to increase the number of trains able to travel through the Transbay Tube between San Francisco and Oakland.

The CTC allocated $40 million through the Solutions for Congested Corridors program to close the final gap (known as segment B7) in the long-running US-101 Marin-Sonoma Narrows project by constructing a carpool lane between Novato and Petaluma. The SB1 dollars will supplement over $90 million from other sources and allow for construction on this final segment to begin as early as 2021.

The CTC’s third Bay Area allocation through the Solutions for Congested Corridors program is $25 million to complete a $64 million funding package and begin construction next year of a double roundabout at the Soscol Junction of State Routes 29 and 221 south of Napa. The improvements will relieve a traffic bottleneck that has long bedeviled residents, workers and tourists to Napa’s famous wine region, and will also deliver important safety and active transportation benefits to the area.

Related: California Transportation Commission (CTC), Gasoline — Taxation, Senate Bill 1 (SB 1)

By Susan Shiu, Director, Contra Costa County Office of Communications and Media

Supervisor Diane Burgis. Herald file photo

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors held a swearing-in ceremony for Supervisor Diane Burgis as Board Chair and Supervisor Federal Glover as Vice Chair at its January 5, 2021 Board meeting.

District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis, who has served Contra Costa County since she was first elected in 2016, including serving the prior year as Vice Chair, takes the leadership role from outgoing Chair, Supervisor Candace Andersen of District 2.

Supervisor Burgis expressed her thanks to Supervisor Andersen as well as her readiness to tackle our County’s issues. “I appreciate Supervisor Andersen’s unwavering commitment to keeping our residents safe and keeping the County moving forward while addressing the impacts of COVID-19. As Chair, I intend to work with my colleagues to support our county health officer to get the coronavirus under control, move the County toward economic recovery for all residents and businesses, enhance mental health crisis response, reform our juvenile justice system, address racial justice and inequality, protect the Delta and proactively fight climate change, and at long last, provide sustainable fire protection services to all areas of the County.  I’m excited about the year ahead and ready to get to work,” said Supervisor Burgis.

District 5 Supervisor Federal Glover will serve as Vice Chair in 2021. He has served on the Board of Supervisors since 2000, representing a district that includes the County’s northern waterfront.

Supervisor Burgis is in her second term, and Supervisor Glover is serving his sixth term. They will lead the five-member elected body that sets the direction of county government and oversees its $3.98 billion budget to serve this large and diverse East Bay County.

For more information about Contra Costa County and its Board of Supervisors, visit the County’s website at www.contracosta.ca.gov or the webpage: www.contracosta.ca.gov/7283/Board-of-Supervisors.

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

On Sunday, January 3, 2021, at about 7:02 PM, Bay Station Deputy Sheriffs were dispatched to a home on the 1700 block of Lettia Road in the Montalvin Manor neighborhood for a medical-police call.

A resident reported that her injured son was unresponsive. Deputies arrived and started CPR on the victim. Other deputies conducted a protective sweep of the residence.

An ambulance arrived on scene and later pronounced the victim deceased. He is identified as 42-year-old Edward Mosqueda of Concord.

During the investigation, the brother of the victim was identified as the suspect. He was located by deputies several blocks away. He was arrested without incident. He is identified as 39-year-old Jason Mosqueda of Richmond. He was interviewed by homicide detectives and later booked into the Martinez Detention Facility.

Mosqueda is being held on the following charges: murder and violation of a protective order. In addition, he had arrest warrants for domestic violence, elder abuse, stalking, and violation of a protective order. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with any information on this incident is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600 or through Sheriff’s Office dispatch at (925) 646-2441. For any tips, email: tips@so.cccounty.us or call (866) 846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.