Last Monday night the City Council, sitting as the Local Reuse Authority (LRA), held our first hearing on the way to choosing a preferred land use plan for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station.

You can learn about the current proposals and review the Community Advisory Committee’s process by checking out the material available on the Concord Community Reuse Project website.

You can also watch – provided you have about 5 hours – the staff presentation and public testimony from November 17th by visiting the City’s website and viewing the webcast of that meeting.

I appreciated the fact that most of the 50+ speakers at the meeting were positive, offered constructive criticism and/or expressed genuine concerns about the plan’s future impacts.  Many were also quite specific – which is also helpful.

A regional stakeholders group provided suggestions on how to improve the Cluster Villages alternative to better integrate educational facilities and potential office parks for green or new technologies.

The Neighborhood Alliance made specific requests like the size of any open space buffer and the permanence of open space designations to protect existing homes that border the Base.

All in all the hearing went well.

One thing, among many, I’m still struggling with though is the concept of “world class”.  Creating a “world class” project has been one of the City’s goals and guiding principles from the beginning.  The approximately 20 members of the Community Advisory Committee worked diligently to craft their recommendations with the idea that they meet the goals and guiding principles, including the “world class” criteria.  What do you think? Is the project “world class”?  If not, what would make it “world class”?

The next public meeting on the Reuse Plan is set for 6:30 pm on December 1st at the Concord Senior Center – 2727 Parkside Circle.

Concord residents and businesses received the City’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2007-2008 in the mail last weekend.

You can download it in Adobe PDF (4+mb file) here.

Concord has an excellent staff.  They work very hard to make sure city programs and services are of the highest quality and delivered in a cost effective manner.

The budget – revenue sources and major expenditure categories – is detailed on pages 8 and 9.  Our two primary sources of revenue are Sales Tax and Property Tax.  Concord receives only 3/4 of a penny of the 8 1/4 cents sales tax paid on purchases made in Concord and receives only $9 out of every $100 paid in property tax.  The rest goes to the State or County for services and programs they provide, including public education.

All indications are the State Budget standoff will be partially resolved by taking a percentage of every Redevelopment Agency’s funding.  Current figures indicate our Agency could lose approximately $800,000 per year – perhaps permanently.  That’s money Concord will not have to fund capital improvement projects designed to raise our property values, revitalize commercial areas and improve the local economy.

Let’s hope our leaders in Sacramento find a better budget solution than stealing funds from local governments.  Especially when the short term fix undermines long term economic growth and the taxes that growth will generate.

The City has successfully installed a new traffic signal on Treat Blvd just west of Oak Grove Road, at the Fire Station/Oak Grove Plaza entrance.

This should improve access and safety – and the contractors and city staff are to be commended for getting it done during the brief break between school years.  It will be interesting to see how it operates when school starts.

The next project for Treat Blvd will be median beautification between Oak Grove Road and San Miguel Road.  Stay tuned.

Here’s my official Concord business card.

The phone number- (925) 671-3158 puts you in contact with either Mary Nakamura or Sue Anne Griffin in the City Manager’s office.  If you’d like to meet with me or any member of the Council – they will work to make that happen.

The email – citycouncil@ci.concord.ca.us – works a little differently.  You can put a particular Councilmember’s name in the Subject line of your email or not – almost regardless the result is the same.  The email is printed out, copied and put in each Councilmember’s inbox on their desk at City Hall.  Staff is making sure that all Councilmembers are getting the same information.  It’s just important not to expect a quick reply just because you sent an email.  We are not getting your message instantly – I do not get to City Hall everyday.  My practice is to pickup my packet and inbox on Friday afternoons.  Many emails are expressing an opinion on a matter that will come before Council and I believe, for the most part, the appropriate time to respond is at that meeting – after the public has had their chance to weigh in.  Some of your emails ask specific, technical questions that are more appropriately answered by staff and are routed accordingly.  The rest tend to be critiques, thank yous or invitations to civic/social events.  I read them all.  Thank you and keep ’em coming.