Do you have a project for Piedmont?

CIP Committee Seeks Resident Proposals and Participation

Deadline for proposals: March. 25th – 5:00 p.m. City Hall

Report on the City Council Meeting of March 7, 2016

    On March 7 2016, the Piedmont City Council came together for its usual bi-monthly meeting in the City Council Chambers. However, this meeting was more rare than most as the Mayor presented the State of the City Address, which only happens once a year. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the Public Forum, the Mayor spoke of the state in which Piedmont has been in and what changes have been made and what still need to be improved upon.

    The first item on the agenda, the Consent Calendar, was to approve the minutes of the Council meeting on February 16, 2016. All Council members voted unanimously to approve the minutes. Following this was the Public Forum, which is when any member of the audience can raise an issue not on the Agenda. However, Public Forum is allowed only 10 minutes and the time has to be split evenly between all those who wish to speak. There were 7 speakers, including myself and my partner.  Five speakers addressed climate change.

Sustainability

    There were two aspects talked about in the diversion of fossil fuels: morals and financial burden. Two Middle School boys spoke out about their concerns of the drought and pointed out that it was only getting worse, as well as the idea that there was no risk in counter action. An additional two Piedmont residents, both of whom had had children who attended Piedmont schools, spoke out about the unsustainability of relying on fossil fuels.  They explained that Piedmont is able to divest from fossil fuels, as 7 other Bay Area cities have already done. Finally, a woman who had grown up in Piedmont spoke out about how renewable energy was infact cheaper than fossil fuels and it would be a smart idea, financially, to divest.

    The main speaker for fossil fuel divestment, was Piedmont resident Julie Walsh. She was the woman who is spearheading the appeal and has created a petition, with 160 signatures, in order to support her cause. When asked about her presence at the City Council meeting, Walsh said, “I am here to try to talk City Council members into divesting from fossil fuels, which they voted down in May by a small margin and several factors have changed since then.” In addressing her concern about the divesting, Walsh said that, “If they don’t put it on the Agenda, then I will come back and appeal it again. In order for them to put it back on the Agenda, I will only have to persuade one City Council member.”

State of the City Address

    After the Public Forum, Mayor Margaret Fujioka, gave the second annual State of the City Address, which covered many events occurring in Piedmont. First, she spoke about the new renovations that were done to the entry of City Hall and thanked the residents of Piedmont for making it possible. She then went on to talk about how this was her final year as Mayor, which then led to her thanking everyone on the Council as well as all of the Department heads, like the Police and Fire Chief.

    Following this, Fujioka spoke about her four main goals as Mayor and how she has reached them. Her first goal, to improve public safety, has been done through the installation of license plate readers on the edge of town and also she mentioned that this year is the third consecutive year where crime rates have been down. Fujioka’s second goal is to maintain health, which has been done through the Fire Department assisting on many fires and through active shooter drills done on campus. Her third goal is to embrace technology, which has been done by working with a tech company called Client First, and starting a 5 year plan. Finally, her last goal is to improve infrastructure, which has taken place as $500,000 was granted to improve Hampton Field beginning this summer. Also, the Piedmont Pool is looking at renovated locker rooms, including new doors, lockers and heating systems.

    After talking about her goals, Mayor Fujioka spoke about all of the positive changes that have happened in Piedmont since the last State of the City Address. She spoke about Piedmont’s clean audit and high marks, guided fiscal prudence and accountability. As well as how the parcel tax, which is proposed to be raised 30%, brings in 1.6 million per year. She also spoke about how Piedmont has been working to become more eco friendly by installing LED lights into the lamp posts to save energy, worked with the Schools to reduce energy output, and began a road diet on Grand Avenue reducing the number of vehicle lanes. The bonds between the City and the School District have been well maintained, and the attempt to reduce traffic at the Middle School in the mornings has been successful. Lastly, Mayor Fujioka encouraged that with the new election approaching, community members continue to speak up and offer ideas to further towards the betterment of Piedmont.

By Hannah Castle, Piedmont High School senior

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Board of Education Hears Reports on Voice Cooperative, Food Drive, SAT Testing, PUSD Budget, STEAM, Taxation for Facilities Master Plan, and  Student Recommendations –

    On March 9, 2016,  the Piedmont Board of Education held one of their bi-monthly meetings that take place on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.  The Board of Education meets to discuss various aspects of the Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD) to ensure the best possible learning community, where students are engaged and have the support to reach their full potential.

    This meeting began with Jenny Hosler, a representative to the Board from Piedmont High School, giving a brief update on what is going on at the High School this month.  She described Voice Cooperative, a student run club that brings in inspiring speakers for lunchtime talks, the two plays that are being performed this week, and the food drive for the Alameda County Food Bank.  Hosler announced that Piedmont High School is the Alameda County Food Bank’s second biggest donor, only after Safeway, averaging 12,000 pounds of food each year.  This year, it is now possible to donate online, so the hope is to reach out further into the community for donations.

Student recommendations

    Board President Andrea Swenson then opened the floor for public comments.  Four groups of high schoolers shared their perspectives on current matters that are being discussed.  Ashley Gerrity and Rachel Fong addressed SAT subject testing, saying they wished teachers would suggest that underclassmen take the corresponding SAT subject test to their AP and Honors classes while the material is still fresh in their minds.  Meredith Aebi brought up the heating system that is possibly broken in the 10s building of the High School and proposed a solution.  Maggie White explained how she believes building a fence around the school would have a negative impact on the learning environment; and finally Lizzie Bjork and I spoke of our positive experiences with small class sizes.

Budget

    Assistant Superintendent Song Chin-Bendib then gave the 2015-16 Second Interim Report.  She spoke of long term budget changes and about how the PUSD budget is in its 3rd year of funding under the Local Control Funding Formula.  She explained the burden of the CalSTRS (California State Teachers Retirement System) payment, which now due to the “phantom” pension expenditure, causes the District to have to record a reserve of money of $1,692,093 as an expense.  She also stated that there is still over half a million dollars set to be used for the 2017-18 school year.  After this budget summary, Board member Amal Smith mover to approve the budget for the 2015-16 school year and for two fiscal years, seconded by Board member Doug Ireland, which was approved by the Board.

Taxation for Facilities Master Plan

    Superintendent Randall Booker spoke next of the Facilities Master Plan, which will be discussed in greater depth at the next meeting.  He gave an overview of some of the major themes that are emerging from meetings with staff and students as the most important goals for this Facilities Master Plan.  The first goal he spoke of was improving the physical learning environment, which includes updating the antiquated energy system as well as making changes to transition to a 21st century learning environment that preps students for future college and career readiness.  The key for this change is to have spaces that are ready for maximum flexibility, like a science room that can be used for chemistry as well as engineering or outdoor space that is ready for experiential learning.  He also spoke of the interest in improving the athletic facilities and changes to mitigate parking.  He announced that the goal to have completed by the April 27th meeting is to partner with the community to create a survey to find out what the appetite is for these changes and for taxation, so that at that meeting there can be discussion about what changes the community really will want to implement and what the priorities are.  President Swenson then emphasized that these changes will not happen without community support and urged the community to email, call, attend meetings, share opinions, and show support in any way possible.

Elementary School Program Design – STEAM

    The Educational Service Report followed, given by the three elementary school principals, Michael Corritone, Anne Dolid, and Carol Cramer.  They spoke of the Instructional Program Design that they have been working on for the elementary schools and where they are in the process.  They have been conversing with a consultant for over a year and are developing in depth prototypes.  Some of the main aspects that they are including in the prototypes are STEAM rotations, allowing every student to be taught art and computer science by a specialist in grades 2-5.  The idea of these STEAM rotations is to create a system where art and computer science are integrated into the curriculum, and these STEAM rotations would be taught by certified specialists.  The principals also explained other opportunities that have grown from the prototypes in the works, like a library commons system and a full kindergarten day.

President Swesen then opened the floor to public comments again, and Hilary Davis, the president of Paints, an organization that strives to promote art in the schools stepped up to the podium.  She said that she was shocked to hear that with these prototypes, all six art specialists had been let go with the plan to hire one certified specialist and that the time for art in schools had been cut in half.  Superintendent Booker then spoke, wanting to assure everybody that nobody had been let go yet, and there are contracts that go until the end of the year.  Auban Willats then stood to state her concern as a parent for what seems like a drastic reduction in art and music education in these prototypes.  Elementary school art teacher, Kammy Cobb then stood to share her expert opinion that cutting art class to 40 minutes does not allow enough time to accomplish everything that goes into an art class, like a demo and clean up.  Finally, John Chainey, a Wildwood parent, stood to state his support for more art, music, writing, and poetry in the schools, and brought up the idea of bringing the resource of the talent of the community into the schools.

After the meeting, Suzie Skugstad, shared her cause for attending in an interview.  She is one of the Wildwood art teachers who is being let go, since she is not officially certified.  She believes that these new prototypes will “decimate the art program by cutting the amount of time the kids will get art to less than half and maybe even one third.”  She believes that the prototypes are also cutting out “art for art’s sake,” by making much of the art tied into other subjects and assessed and critiqued.  I agree with her that while integrating art into the curriculum can enrich the materials of the other subjects, it is also extremely important to have art alone, solely for the sake of creating art.  Her next step is to attend the March 17 meeting and find out if the prototypes are available to parents online.

Allie Frankel, Piedmont High School senior

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

The Piedmont Planning Commission will receive staff reports on the possible  revisions to the City’s Zoning Code (Chapter 17) and Residential Design Review Guidelines at the end of its Monday, March 14 meeting.  The two reports by Kevin Jackson, Interim Planning Director, are intended to inform the  public and the Commission on the status of planned updates to Chapter 17.

The Code amendments are “extensive and complicated” according to Jackson in the reports totaling 43 pages that discuss, describe and outline the revisions. (Reports to be available on Monday night at the meeting.) At the public hearing the Commission will take testimony from members of the public on the revisions under consideration. The Commission may then provide comments or direction to the staff on updates and revisions to the City’s Zoning Code  and Residential Design Review Guidelines.

Revisions focusing on second units include : incentives to support development of new second units; monitor opportunities for units in homes that do not yet have them; collecting information on occupancy and rents charged; monitor vacant units; reduce off-street parking requirement; and maintain an inventory of available units for extremely low income families.

Other revisions include the addition of multiple family developments and mixed use developments to the conditionally permitted uses in Piedmont’s commercial zone.

In September 2015, the City Council determined that house swaps should not be regulated, but short term rentals (including online peer to peer such as AirBnB ) should be prohibited in second units and apartments.  In November 2015, the Planning Commission recommended prohibition of all short term rentals in Piedmont.

The goal is to complete the work by the end of 2016.

Agenda  < for March 14, 2016 Planning Commission meeting

The Planning Commission meeting on Monday, March 14 will begin in the City Hall courtyard with a design awards reception.  The actual design awards ceremony will follow in the City Council Chambers. The regular session of the Commission will begin at 6 pm with the hearing on updates and revisions to the City’s Zoning Code  (item 15) and Residential Design Review Guidelines (item 16) to occur at an unknown time at the end of the meeting, following consideration of applications for variances and design review of various residents’ construction projects.

Suggested revisions >  Report Design Guidelines Changes 3-14-2016

Suggested revisions >  Planning Commission  Report Ch 17 Changes 3-14-2016 – Draft

Read the existing Residential Design Review Guidelines here.

Read the existing Chapter 17 here.

The meeting is open to the public and will be live broadcast on Channel 27 and webcast on the City’s website.

As this website is dedicated to civic affairs, readers may want to take notice of an interesting example of civic process playing out in City Hall right now.

At a public hearing of the Park Commission to address 10-grader Milo Gaillard’s petition to open the upper lawn in Dracena Park to off-leash dog use, a Dracena Avenue neighbor opposed to the petition introduced a map showing that the current off-leash areas of the park are in contradiction to the intent of the 1974 Council resolution establishing the dog run.  A subcommittee was established to evaluate the petition but also took up the question of the validity of the current off-leash areas.

The subcommittee returned a report with little analysis of the feasibility of the petition but rather with a detailed analysis of the “legislative history” of the Dracena off-leash rules concluding that the current off-leash use of the park is “not consistent” with City Code.  The subcommittee report offered the following history as justification for its conclusion (emphasis added):

The subcommittee history leaves out important facts about the adoption and implementation of the Dracena Park off-leash rules (emphasis added):

~~~~~~First, from Piedmont Municipal Code, Chapter 4, “Animals”, 1989:

“Sec. 4.13  Running at Large.

~~~~~~~ from Ordinance 569 N.S, 1997:

 ~~~~~~From the minutes of City Council, November 6, 2000:

Section 3.4.2 is amended to read:

Section 3.4.3 is amended to read:

With this additional history, especially the definition of off leash dogs in Chapter 4 that allows dogs to be within 50 yards of their owner, the current off leash use of Dracena Park is completely consistent with City Code.

 Under the definition of off-leash in Chapter 4, all of upper Dracena Park is off-leash dog run, being within 50 yards of the Dracena-Artuna pathway.

In this context, the 1993 trial period allowing dogs on the upper pathway was a reduction of the off-leash area of the park and Milo’s petition, rather than a request for a new use, seeks restoration of what was once allowed.

Even without Chapter 4, the history supports the intent of City Council to expand the off-leash use of the park from the 1974 resolution to what it is today. In Ordinance 569, City Council established the authority of the Public Works Department to designate with signs the area to be used by dogs off-leash and current signage in place for over 20 years supports that.

In 2000, Council explicitly removed references to a trails map and again reiterates the role of Public Works to designate the areas and rules for off leash dog use.  In Dracena Park, staff implementation is clearly evident by signage which designates upper and lower pathways as off -leash and the lawn as on-leash.

So here’s the civics question: does a single word from the 1974 resolution, “pathway”, trump 30 years of Council action and city administration to the contrary?  Are off-leash dogs that wander off the pathway “inconsistent” with City Code or do the signs throughout the park define the off leash area?

 It’s the classic example of the “original vs. living” document debate of Justices Scalia and Breyer at the U.S. Supreme Court!  OK, that may be a stretch as we are talking about a 10th-grader’s “simple” petition to let dogs on the lawn. But the consequences to dog owners are serious.

The Park Commission is recommending a 50% reduction in the use of the upper half of the dog run, the section most used by dog owners, especially seniors.

Now, Council will take up this “great debate” at its March 21 meeting. Will it continue with this can of worms and reopen this contentious issue or will it honor past Council direction and maintain staff’s discretion to manage the off leash areas?  In that regard, the Council might want to consider some advice Milo has been hearing from City Hall – be careful what you ask for.

With a pending ballot initiative to increase the parcel tax, will it reduce off-leash use of Dracena Park, one of the most popular municipal services provided for by the tax?

Garrett Keating, Former Piedmont Councilmember

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Then and Now Walking Tour of Piedmont and the Mountain View Cemetery

The Piedmont Historical Society and the Piedmont League of Women Voters are sponsoring free walking tours of Piedmont’s “rich and colorful history.” The three mile walks on March 25 and April 2 will focus on Piedmont pioneer Walter Blair.

Piedmont “Then and Now” Walking Tour Details
On Friday, March 25, the Piedmont League of Women Voters, in collaboration with the Piedmont Historical Society, will launch the first in a series of free, guided walks featuring Piedmont’s rich and colorful history. The first walk will be repeated on Saturday, April 2.

In addition to offering brisk, outdoor exercise, the series of “Then and Now Walks” will cover Piedmont’s growth from a few scattered ranches in the mid-1800’s to an incorporated city, providing fascinating background on early residents, as well as on water and transportation infrastructure, parks, architecture and more.

Both the March 25 and April 2 walks will begin at 10 a.m. at the corner of Highland and Blair Avenues and end at the starting place by noon. The approximately 3-mile walk will cover the northwest portion of pioneer Walter Blair’s 650-acre ranchland, which stretched from what is now Scenic Avenue down to Grand Avenue, encompassing much of today’s Piedmont.

On the walk, guides Chris Read and Marj Blackwell, will point out the site of Blair ‘s one-room cabin, his dairy farm, his rock quarry in Dracena Park, and — after traversing Piedmont neighborhoods that once were ranchland — head into Mountain View Cemetery to see where Blair is buried.

The return walk will head back uphill on streets adjacent to Moraga Avenue, where Blair’s streetcar line ran from downtown Oakland to the entrance to his park at Highland Avenue. The walk will end on Waldo Avenue, the site of Blair’s spacious ranch house and formal gardens.

On a scale of 1 (easy) to 5 (more difficult), this walk is rated a 3 in difficulty.

The League’s “Then and Now Walks” are open to all but are limited to the first 30 who sign up. To RSVP, email marjb@sbcglobal.net by March 23 for the Friday, March 25 walk, and by March 31 for Saturday, April 2 walk.

If heavy rain cancels the walks, participants will be notified by or before the morning of the walks. Piedmont maps and historic information will be available for sale at the walks.

In late April, a second walk will focus on development of central Piedmont, including the popular Piedmont Springs Hotel, which burned down in 1898, the Sulphur Springs in Piedmont Park, historic houses built by prominent residents Jesse Wetmore and Hugh Craig, and classic Victorian houses on Rose and Kingston Avenues. Dates and details will be forthcoming.

Future walks may feature Piedmont’s underground springs — the only source of early residents’ water; transportation, from horse-drawn wagons to streetcar lines, and Piedmont homes designed by prominent architects, then and now. For more information, email marjb@sbcglobal.net .

On rainy Friday, March 4th, the City Council, participating City staff and contractors gathered for the ribbon-cutting to re-open the Community Hall after two months of renovations.

City Administrator Paul Benoit supplied the ribbon cutting     scissors.

Mayor Margaret Fujioka cutting the ribbon.

Council member Bob McBain looking at the new flooring.

Festive celebratory buffet

New drinking fountain

New floor

New wall sconces

Lawsuits –

On February 19, Piedmont’s City Clerk announced resolution of the second of two lawsuits arising from the excessive cost overruns of the Piedmont Hills Undergrounding District, and the Hampton-Seaview Undergrounding District.  The City recouped $667,000 from over $2 million of excess costs.  The bottom line is that Piedmont’s taxpayers are stuck covering a $1.3 million debacle.

Now it’s over.  It’s time to move on.  We must accept the penalty and see that such gross mismanagement is never repeated again.   True enough.  But there are consequences from this financial fiasco.  Future proposals for tax increases or bond funding for big projects will have to meet higher standards of review.  And if there is any doubt at all about the veracity of new proposals, or the competence of their sponsors, Piedmont’s citizens will probably reject them.  Once bitten, twice shy.

Bruce Joffe, Piedmont Resident
3-4-16

 Editors’ Note:  Opinions expressed are those of the author.