At its Thursday, August 29, 5:30 p.m. meeting in the Council Chambers, the Public Safety Committee will discuss potential steps Piedmonters can take to make their homes more secure. The following is the draft proposal.

Securing Homes in Piedmont

In response to increases in home burglaries and other crimes, the Piedmont Police Department and the Piedmont Public Safety Committee would like to offer the following steps that residents should consider:

1. Do not hesitate to contact the Police Department when you observe suspicious activity. The Police can be reached by calling 420-3000 or 911 if the matter is urgent.

2. Get to know your neighbors so you can mutually watch out for each other’s homes especially if they see activity at your home while you are away at work or on vacation.

3. Work with your neighbors to help organize Neighborhood Watch meetings where the Police Department can discuss various measures that can be taken and respond to concerns specific to the neighborhood. The Fire Department is also available to provide information on disaster preparedness. Meetings can be arranged by contacting the Police Department Secretary at 420-3020.

4. Make sure that your home is kept locked even during the day. Locks should be in good working order with a preference for dead bolt locks and reinforced latches.

5. Do not leave first level windows open. Ladders which could allow someone to enter upstairs windows should be stored out of sight and preferably in a locked place.

6. Compile an inventory of valuable property such as laptops, televisions, smart phones, jewelry,  credit cards etc.  Store the inventory in a safe location. If possible, also mark the items with your driver’s license number to facilitate their identification by law enforcement. An etching tool is available for loan through the Police Department.

7. Secure expensive jewelry in a safe deposit box, a floor mounted safe, or an unobtrusive place within the home.

8. Trim landscaping to ensure that the exterior of the home, particularly entrances and windows, are visible from the street.

9. Consider the installation of motion activated exterior lighting particularly for front and back entrances and driveways. This provides an element of safety from tripping as well as alerting residents to the presence of unwanted visitors. (Please consider possible lighting impacts on your neighbors.)

10. Consider leaving a radio or television on when not at home.

11. Barking dogs are also a deterrent. An alternative is to purchase an alarm system that simulates the barking of a dog as people approach the house when you are out. Various products can be found by simple internet searches.

12. If you go on vacation, ask your neighbors to watch for newspapers, mail, or package deliveries on your porch. Ensure that recycling containers are taken out on schedule. Ask someone to park in your driveway and use automated timers in the living and bedroom areas to make it appear someone is there. The Police Department will also perform vacation checks on your home if requested.

13. Consider the installation of a home alarm system. These systems can sound at the home or can be monitored by an alarm company for a monthly fee. Most systems provide a warning when a door or window is opened. Others use motion detection or more advanced technologies.

Ask the alarm company for signs which you can place on or near doors and windows so that potential thieves know you have such a system. Ensure that any alarm company you are considering is licensed by the State and ask for references.

14. Consider the installation of a video surveillance system. The scope and complexity of such a system can vary depending on the type chosen, the level of coverage, the availability of electricity, internet connectivity, and other factors. Costs can range from as little as $150 per camera up to several thousand dollars. Recommended coverage would include approaches to the residence, particularly driveways, as well as at least some coverage inside the residence.

As with alarms, a State licensed supplier is recommended as well as references. Residents with such systems are encouraged (but not required) to advise the Police Department as this will help them to more effectively follow up in the event of a crime at or near your home.

While there can be no guarantee that your home will not be victimized, the above measures will make your home less attractive to criminals and are strongly encouraged.

–  Landscape plan to improve neglected park –  

Councilman Robert McBain made comments at the August 19th City Council meeting that were quoted in the POST (8/21/13) that I believe need to be addressed.  Friends of Moraga Canyon (FOMC) settled its lawsuit against the City of Piedmont by accepting $30,000 for the reimbursement of legal fees.  FOMC asked that $15,000 of the $30,000 settlement be deposited in a separate account with the City of Piedmont expressly for the purpose of retaining a landscape designer to create a plan to improve Blair Park.

$30,000 was transferred from the City’s Legal Indemnity Fund to pay this obligation.  Piedmont Recreation Facilities Organization (PRFO) established this fund as a vehicle to fulfill its written promise to cover any and all legal liabilities incurred by the City in connection with the Blair Park project. (To date, PRFO still owes the City approximately $220,000.)

FOMC raised and paid over $70,000 to cover its legal and other expenses.  The settlement directed $15,000 to FOMC’s attorneys to pay off the remaining balance still owed.  This left $15,000 in settlement funds that could have been used to repay some of its major supporters.  Instead, FOMC decided to have these funds placed in a City account expressly for the purpose of hiring a landscape designer to create a plan for the maintenance and improvement of Blair Park. Unlike all other well-cared for Piedmont parks, Blair Park has been ignored and neglected, especially during the four years of the sports field controversy, and a plan to enhance the park’s natural setting and amenities is sorely needed.

Al Peters, Former Piedmont Mayor

Editors’ Note:  The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Piedmont Civic Association.

The Bay Bridge will close for five days to disconnect the original eastern half of the bridge at both the Oakland and Yerba Buena Island ends and connect its newly constructed replacement.  Crews will also pave and stripe the new connections and install barrier rails.  Taking advantage of the extended closure, maintenance work will be carried out on the western span, including cleaning, painting and replacing lighting fixtures. The bridge has closed on three previous Labor Day weekends in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

BART will operate 24-hour service during the Bay Bridge closure from Concord, Walnut Creek, El Cerrito del Norte, downtown Berkeley, MacArthur, 12th St Oakland, Coliseum Oakland Airport, Bay Fair, Dublin/Pleasanton, Embarcadero, Powell, 24th St Mission, Daly City and SFO.

There will be three additional daily ferries between Oakland’s Jack London Square and San Francisco on Thursday through Monday.  AC Transit’s transbay bus service ceases with the last transbay bus leaving San Francisco at 7:10 pm Wednesday.

The new east span of the Bay Bridge is scheduled to open to traffic no later than 5 a.m. on Tuesday, September 3.  It could open earlier, at any time following the ceremonial chain-cutting at 3pm on Monday.

After the new east span of the Bay Bridge opens to vehicular traffic on Tuesday, September 3 at 5:00 a.m., the adjacent bike and pedestrian path will open at noon.  The 15 1/2 foot wide lane provides separate areas for pedestrians and bicyclists.   The bicycle speed limit will be 15 miles per hour with bicycle mounted Highway Patrol officers patrolling the bike/pedestrian lane.

Access to and from Yerba Buena Island is not expected to be ready until demolition on that end of the old span is complete.  The permanent East Bay access will lead from the Bay Trail and Shellmound Street in Emeryville along Burma Road and onto the bridge.  Temporarily, bike and pedestrian access will be on a wooden connector through the construction zone . The permanent connector will not be completed until 2015.

Stay Safe as the School Year Kicks Off –

Classes resumed for kindergarten through grade 12 on Wednesday, August 21 at all Piedmont schools.  Crossing guards are in place to assist students crossing some of the busiest intersections.  Parents should remind students to look both ways – and look both ways again when crossing the street, even when a crossing guard is present. Motorists are reminded to reduce their speed in a school zone to 15 MPH whenever students are present.

The City provides School Crossing Guards at several key intersections under a contract approved by the City Council with All City Management Services. Any problems with crossing guard performance should be reported to the Watch Commander at the Piedmont Police Department, (510) 420-3000.

Piedmont’s KCOM-TV, Channel 27 will be off-air Monday, August 26 and Tuesday, August 27, 2013 while installing upgrades to the digital broadcast equipment. The City Council, Planning Commission, School Board and other programming on Channel 27 will not be broadcast during this time.  However, streaming video of meetings will be available via the internet at the City’s web site www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/video . Programming is expected to resume on Channel 27 no later than Wednesday, August 28, 2013.

A $15,000 contract for landscape design improvements to Blair Park is up for approval by the Piedmont City Council on Monday, August 19.  Public Works Director Chester Nakahara is recommending the contract be awarded to Restoration Design Group (RDG) of Berkeley, in partnership with HortScience, Inc., a horticulture, arboriculture and urban forestry firm. 

Improving Blair Park’s landscape is part of a 2012 settlement agreement between Friends of Moraga Canyon (FOMC) and the City in a lawsuit filed by FOMC against the City’s Environmental Impact Report for construction of a sports field in the park. The settlement called for the City to retain a professional landscape architect “who has experience in creating and/or implementing plans for natural open space parks similar to Blair Park.”

After extensive review, RDG/HortScience were rated the most qualified by City staff and by an FOMC subcommittee, which reviewed proposals from three local firms. According to Nakahara, “Restoration Design Group possesses extensive experience in natural open space restoration, and combines that with a distinct qualitative character that will be brought to their approach in designing a plan suitable for the unique conditions of Blair Park.”

During the 12-week project, RDG and HortScience will assess the health of every tree in Blair Park, recommend risk abatement, such as pruning, and tree preservation. They will conduct a survey of existing pathways and trees and recommend proposed site improvements, plant species, pathway design, erosion control measures, and provide a preliminary cost estimate of the recommended improvements.  RDG will present its plan at a public hearing of the Piedmont Parks Commission on October 2, 2013.

In its proposal letter, RDG stated, “The landscape improvement plan will focus on ‘low impact’ changes to the open space.  However, if the City is interested, the plan could lead to a bolder, more long‐term vision for the site.  Blair Park is at the headwaters of the Glen Echo Creek (sometimes referred to as Cemetery Creek) watershed.  The creek flows below the park in a storm drain.  The landscape improvement plan could set a long term vision to daylight the creek through the site.  The addition of a water feature would greatly benefit birds and create an even more tranquil, soothing setting for park users.  The proposed low impact landscape improvement plan could design the site to accommodate and even stimulate future large scale improvements.”

RDG concluded, “We understand that Blair Park has had competing proposals in the recent past, and we intend to design a project that will help heal relations and reinforce the decision to keep Blair Park in a natural condition.”

Staff report

Santa Cruz’s Predictive Policing Results Inspire other Cities –

To call attention to their efficient new policing method of crime prevention, Santa Cruz held a “Predictive Policing Day” this week. Crime in Santa Cruz had increased by 30% when their Police Department lost 20% of its personnel in 2011.  After the first year using Predictive Policing, Santa Cruz Police reported a 19% reduction in burglaries and added predictions of bike thefts, battery, assault and prowling in late 2012. PCA reported on the new science of sophisticated algorithmic based Predictive Policing June 1.

San Francisco’s KGO reported on it Wednesday:

“…the software program has police in cities across the world calling Santa Cruz to inquire about how it works.

‘The software provides us analytics [that] take a look at where crimes are occurring, and [we put] officers in the places where we think they have the best opportunity to mitigate crime or problems,’ says Santa Cruz Police Chief Steve Clark.”

The algorithm was developed over six years by a team composed of University of California mathematics and anthropology professors from two campuses working with police and criminologists.  It incorporates the latest sociological studies of criminal behavior.

Los Angeles experimented with Predictive Policing in just one precinct—Foothill—for six months. At the end of the trial, the Police Department reported that burglaries in the Foothill precinct decreased 36 percent while crime rose across Los Angeles over the same period.

Grote to retire after 25 years of service to Piedmont – 

It was January 30, 1989, when Geoffrey L. Grote became Piedmont’s City Administrator. Grote was raised in Pleasant Hill, graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and received his Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.  Before coming to Piedmont, Grote was city manager of Ojai, California  where he initiated several major projects including the Ojai Arcade and the remodeling and expansion of Ojai’s City Hall. Prior to that he had been  Assistant to the City Administrator and Assistant City Attorney in San Luis Obispo. He was founding member and President of the Santa Barbara Area Joint Powers Insurance Authority.

At the October 1989 Piedmont Civic Association Annual meeting, Grote, as the recently hired City Administrator, spoke to the group on taxes, zoning, safety, planning, libraries, utility undergrounding, trees, playfields, and views.  Most of these issues continue to be of great interest to Piedmonters.

Grote was hired by the City Council in 1989 at a salary of $72,000 plus benefits including a car allowance.  He was chosen from among 100 applicants.

When Grote retires at the end of January 2014, he will have served as City Administrator for 25 years.  Both in Piedmont and elsewhere, the position of City Administrator or City Manager is known for frequent turn overs. His longevity speaks to his ability to work with City Councils, the public, and Piedmont employees.

Numerous City municipal service taxes were passed during Grote’s tenure with only one defeat.  The recent sewer tax proposal was defeated in 2012 followed by voter approval of another municipal service tax. 

During recent years Grote was faced with more than the usual budget balancing, public safety and planning issues. Retirements required hiring a new Police Chief, Fire Chief, City Attorney, Public Works Director, Finance Director, and City Clerk.

Vexing to the City administration, citizens and Council was the City’s assumption of risk for the private Piedmont Hills Underground Utility District resulting in a $2.5 million dollar burden on all taxpayers.  The matter remains in legal limbo as the City attempts to recover payment from the project designers and engineers.

Many say the most divisive issue to confront Piedmont in recent years was the proposal by Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO) to develop an extensive sports complex for soccer and other grass-based sports in Blair Park bordering Moraga Avenue.  Although the project proposal was ultimately withdrawn by PRFO and a cancellation of Council approval, it cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and diverted hundreds of hours of City staff time. 

Pension liabilities, changes in personnel, funding, planning, public safety – all were prominent in Grote’s responsibilities. Grote has been acclaimed for his willingness to sit down with citizens, improvements to City facilities and pleasant demeanor.  New residents and visitors to Piedmont frequently remark on how beautifully maintained they find the City. Considering Grote’s knowledge of the City and its employees, the next City Administrator will have large shoes to fill.

At the City Council meeting of August 5, the following statements were made:

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to the Mayor and Council, the residents of Piedmont, and the dedicated City staff for their support and assistance these almost 25 years that I have served as City Administrator,” said Grote.

“These years have been with filled with joys and disappointments, but what I will remember most vividly are the extraordinary people that I have come to know in Piedmont, residents and staff, who have worked so hard to preserve and improve this beautiful community. It has been a privilege to have been a part of that work”

“Piedmont has benefitted from Geoff’s leadership over the nearly quarter century he has served the City,” said Mayor John Chiang. “His efforts to maintain high service levels, excellent public facilities, and make Piedmont a better place for its residents will not soon be forgotten.”

Mr. Grote will remain with the City until the end of January 2014 and, according to a City press release, the recruitment process for a new City Administrator has commenced.  As an “at will” employee, Grote’s agreement with the City required him to provide 6 months of notice prior to retirement or leaving his position, hence the August 5 announcement.  Grote’s replacement could occur prior to his designated retirement date. Alternatively, there is an option of a temporary extension of his employment agreement. 

BART trains will run on Monday, August 12.

If BART management and unions do not reach agreement on new contracts by 11:59 pm Sunday night August 11, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow’s injunction will prevent a strike through October 1o.  (Contracts expired at the end of June.) 

At a Sunday morning hearing the parties learned that, as expected, Governor Jerry Brown was granted, if necessary, the injunction he requested for a 60-day cooling-off period between the BART bargaining parties. Under the injunction, BART employee unions cannot strike; nor can BART lock out employees during the 60-day cooling-off period.  It is hoped that during the two month period,  the bargaining parties can reach an agreement and prevent a strike in October.

Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow said he will sign the order after paperwork is submitted, the radio station said. The order, in the form of an injunction, would last through Oct. 10, the judge said.

It would take effect at midnight tonight if the two sides don’t reach a contract agreement before then. Talks were set to resume today at 1 p.m., KCBS reported.

Information and details on BART negotiations.