Monday, April 18 City Council meeting –

At 7:30 p.m. in the evening of Monday, April 18, 2016, I attended a Piedmont City Council meeting. The City Council meets on the first and third Monday of every month, to allocate city funds, and improve and maintain the infrastructure of the city.

There were several issues discussed in this meeting by various members of the Council as well as the community, but the most pressing issues were the option for Piedmont to switch over to Community Choice Energy, the repair and renovation of Hampton Park, the addition of bike lanes to parts of Grand Avenue, the renewal of Piedmont’s contract with Richmond Sanitary Services, and looking into improving Piedmont’s public pool facilities.

To start the meeting, Bruce Jensen from the Alameda County Planning Department, and Tom Kelly gave a presentation on the benefits of Piedmont switching over to Community Choice Energy (CCE) from PG&E. CCE offers the community a choice for clean energy at a competitive rate to that which PG&E offers. The benefit of switching to CCE, is that Piedmont can come closer to its goals of being environmentally friendly, while still providing energy at a reasonable price. CCE is an opt-out program, meaning that everyone is automatically signed up for it, unless they expressly indicate in writing that they would not like to participate in the program. One worry about CCE is that if too many people opt-out, it will not be economically viable, and would end up costing the consumers more. Based on the discussion, I think that Piedmont should switch over to CCE. At the very least, it gives people options and prevents PG&E from having a total monopoly. In the best case, if most people stay in the program, CCE provides cleaner energy for a lower price than what Piedmont currently offers.

The next matter addressed at the City Council meeting was the repair and renovation of Hampton Park. Currently, Hampton Park is shut down every winter due to flooding and water damage from poor drainage. The city has to repair it annually, just for it to be damaged again the following winter, leading to a cycle costing the city $25,000 a year. In 2008, funds were raised to make long term changes to the park, preventing the annual flood damage, but the improvements were delayed due to the recession and more pressing priorities.

It has been so long since the City Council has originally raised the funds for the Hampton Park restoration, that they are now at risk of losing that money, so this has become a major focus of the Council. The Council unanimously agreed to fund the restoration of the park, and went on to discuss the logistics of where activities would be held while Hampton Park is undergoing renovations.

The Council came to the agreement that Beach Field would be able to temporarily take the displaced activities from Hampton Park, and the Council unanimously approved opening Beach Field on Sundays to allow for more activities. City Clerk John Tulloch said that, “he’s glad the park is getting improvement” as he’s seen many people use it and take advantage of the great space.

After that, the repainting of Grand Avenue to add bike lanes was discussed. Oakland is currently trying to add bike lanes to Grand Avenue, and Piedmont would like to “piggy back” on their work and continue the bike lanes on the part of Grand which is in Piedmont. Oakland has generously offered to fund some of the painting of bike lanes on the part of Grand in Piedmont. The council unanimously agreed to fund the rest of the addition of bike lanes to Grand Ave in Piedmont, and Council member Tim Rood commented on how it was ideal timing as it would be repainted before the annual Bay Area Bike to Work Day on May 12th.

The Council then discussed the renewal of Piedmont’s contract with Richmond Sanitary Services (RSS). The Council members all agreed that RSS does a fantastic job of collecting Piedmont’s waste, and unanimously agreed to negotiate a renewal of their contract.

The final issue the Council addressed was the improvement of Piedmont’s public pool facilities. Council members King, and Rood were nominated to look into ways to improve the public pool facilities. Both Council members accepted the task, and a motion was unanimously passed to look into ways of improving the pool facility.

Reported by Stuart Ashford, Piedmont High School Senior

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

Chair and Vice Chair Elected, Minutes will be Timely by May, Hampton Park construction starts in June with completion by mid-October ‘16 or as late as mid-February ‘17

I sat in on the City of Piedmont Recreation Commission Agenda on April 20, 2016.  The Recreation Commission is a group that meets monthly to discuss the issues pertaining to the Recreation Department of the City of Piedmont.

In this particular meeting the issues addressed were: the election of Chair and Vice Chair, the approval of Recreation Commission Minutes, the Review of Recreation Commission Duties and Powers, an update on the Hampton Park Master Plan, an update about potential temporary changes to Beach Playfield use during Hampton construction, an update to the Aquatics Master Plan, a CIP update, and a consideration of Betty C. Howard Awards.

For the election of Chair, Betsy Andersen was nominated by herself and was supported by the rest of the Commission. As for the Vice Chair, Andersen nominated Brian Cain who was unanimously supported.

For the approval of Recreation Commission Minutes, the Commission seemed to be a month late in terms of having their minutes under control, but Director Sara Lillevand assured the Commission that they would be back on track by next month.

The next order of duty was to review the Recreation Commission Duties and Powers to remind all who are present about the function and role of this commission in our city. Director Lillevand explained that some of the roles were to: consider/recommend programs and facilities for the Recreation Department, and to take care of pertinent matters along with advising the Council on recreational matters.

The update on the Hampton Park Master Plan went as follows: the construction is planned to start in June and is completed in a single phase. Many of the decisions about the rehabilitation have come from the community and general public. Some huge private donations have made the project able to be completed in a single phase. The project is targeted to be completed by mid-October ‘16, but could go as late as mid-February ‘17. At this time, A student named David Monical asked a question about the upkeep of the tennis facilities at Hampton throughout the future to which Director Lillevand responded by saying there will be stricter upkeep of the courts in the future after the project.

The update on the Beach Playfield pertains to how the playfield will be used as overflow space while Hampton is under construction. The Commission was talking about having Beach field open to scheduling on Sundays to alleviate the demand for field space during the construction period. It was at this time that Calvin Polvorosa asked a question about how the construction at Hampton might increase the use of tennis courts around the City and how that was going to be addressed, to which Director Lillevand stated that the Commission had not looked into the issue, but will explore options about that issue in the future as the project progresses.

The Aquatic Master Plan update went over the recent changes to the plans for the pool area and how that was going to go. It was at this time that a student by the name of Liam Bonacum asked what the main issues were concerning the aquatic center right now, to which Lillevand responded by stating that pool space and time were the limiting factors for the present setup.

For the CIP Update, Director Lillevand listed some of the issues that were being addressed, including: an update to coaches playfield, Howard entrance to Beach field, sand volleyball setup below the bridge at Beach, an update, and addition of lights at Dracena Park, and an update to the Community Hall Master Plan.

The next order of business was the nomination of the Betty C. Howard awardS. This award is given to recognize the dedicated staff and volunteers who performed outstandingly over the previous year(s). This year’s employee nominee was Katrina Morris, a Schoolmates employee at Havens Elementary. The Commission unanimously agreed she should be honored based on the recommendation by Director Lillevand. John Morrison, former Piedmont Middle School Principal, was honored for his volunteer contributions.

After the meeting concluded, I spoke with Jeremy Flake from the audience to discuss his involvement with the issues at hand. He said that he was there to see if the update to Hampton would include the basketball courts. Since Director Lillevand stated that the courts will be replaced and/or refurbished, Flake had no need to address with the Commission.

By Calvin Polvorosa, Piedmont High School Senior

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

City of Piedmont Recreation Commission Meeting,  April 20, 2016

 The City of Piedmont’s Recreation Commission meets once a month to discuss, dispute and hear from the public on anything related to recreation in the City of Piedmont. The meeting began with a ten minute Public Forum. This public forum allows anyone in the audience to bring up a subject they would like to discuss that is not on the meeting agenda. Given the audience was limited to four other Piedmont High School Civics students, a former member of the Recreation Commission and myself, no one chose to speak during the Public Forum.

 The first item on the agenda was the welcoming of the three new Recreation Commissioners: Glyn Burge, Jeff Dorman and Vincent Fisher. After the meeting, I asked Vincent Fisher why he chose to join the Commission and how long he planned to stay. He had just recently moved to Piedmont and was very active in the City Council of his previous town, so he wanted to get involved. He was appointed to a three year term as a Recreation Commissioner and is very excited for what the future held.

 The second agenda item was the vote for the new Chair and Vice Chair of the Recreation Commission, the Chair going to Betsy Andersen and the Vice Chair going to Brian Cain.

 After a few more short agenda items that seemed to be more due diligence than anything, the meeting arrived at its biggest agenda item, an update on the Hampton Park Master Plan. This update was led greatly by the Recreation Director, Sara Lillevand, with a few clarifying questions asked by members of the Commission and audience members like myself.

 The Hampton Park Plan has been a massive work in progress for about ten years and is just now beginning to come to fruition. My older brother actually attended a meeting six years ago that included discussion about the project for this same assignment. The construction is planned to begin in June of this year and be completed in a single phase. The project is hoped to be wrapped up by mid October but could continue as late as mid February. The Hampton Field Renovation is the result of a massive community push for better field space in Piedmont, and has been funded partially by donations.

 The following agenda item pertained to potential changes to the Beach Playfield usage restrictions.  Starting this summer these changes, if made, would be entirely temporary and solely for the purpose of not displacing the users of Hampton Field while it is under construction.

 Agenda item number seven brought up future changes to Piedmont’s Aquatics. No plans have been drafted as of yet, but the Recreation  Commission recognizes the Piedmont Community Pool is where they need to shift their attention next. This seems to be the start of yet another ten year process just like the Hampton Field Project.

 Although it was not seen at this meeting, there is a lot of public disagreement when plans like the Hampton Field or Piedmont Aquatics are brought up. While it is important for the public to shape their community, in my opinion it would be much better for the public to let the City Council make decisions in a timely manner. This way things would get done much quicker and lead to a better Piedmont.

by Rhys Daniel, Piedmont High School Senior

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