Following publication on this site of the Opinion: A New Educational Resource for Piedmont Kids?, Mary Kelly, former vice President and incoming President of the Piedmont Middle School Parents Club noted, “I am using my role as president, and the access to the administration it gives me, to focus on the issue of making sure that PUSD has a successful process for pulling in valuable new ideas.”  As a beginning, she has communicated with the PUSD administration regarding a presentation on the Khan Academy.  She is suggesting that PUSD professional educators take a look at the free Math, Physics, and History YouTube videos and computer-supported exercises, as part of the District’s efforts for continuous improvement.

The Khan Academy provides free instruction on a myriad of subjects to anyone with Internet access.  Currently, a million students each month use the site and during the past year the Los Altos, California School District incorporated the Khan videos into the 5^th and 7^th grade curricula.

At the Municipal Tax Review Committee (MTRC) meeting on Wednesday, July 20, the Committee considered the City’s sewer tax and voted unanimously (8-0) to recommend a 50% increase in this tax, effective July 2, 2014.  In response to a question, Public Works Director Chester Nakahara said that no costs for relocating the residential sewer lines that run beneath Blair Park are included in the City’s sewer program. The City’s program covers only improvements necessary to bring existing sewer lines into compliance with federal mandates.  Click to read more »

• For those interested in running for School Board, forms will be available on October 17, 2011.   Three seats will be available, with one incumbent termed out and one incumbent announcing she is “unlikely” to rerun
  

And more – read the full report from June Monach Click to read more »

The Chair of the Municipal Tax Review Committee announced that the committee voted on Wednesday, July 20, to hold its three remaining meetings in the Council Chambers.  These meetings will be August 3, 17 and 31, all at 7:30 pm.   This change will allow the meetings to be videotaped and archived. Residents can watch a live broadcast of the meetings on KCOM or view a video at their convenience on Piedmont’s KCOM website.

Committee members spent much of the July 20 meeting discussing the city’s sewer tax. They  voted unanimously (8-0) to recommend  the City Council propose a 50 percent increase in the sewer tax, effective July 1, 2014.  If a ballot measure wins approval of a two-thirds majority of Piedmont voters, the tax for homeowners with parcels up to 5,000 square feet will nearly double from $471 per year  to $706. The increase is necessary to complete rehabilitation of Piedmont’s sewers in compliance with federal environmental regulations.  The tax would decrease in 20 years as the city repays state loans and the work is completed. Committee members noted that homeowners are also responsible for repairing sewer laterals when they sell their homes. Click to read more »

Statement to City Council by Piedmont Resident Regarding a Roundabout at Moraga & Maxwelton

Concerning PRFO’s Blair Park traffic plan, the proposed mini-roundabout at Maxwelton and Moraga is entirely contrary to the Federal Highway Administration’s Feb. 2010 Technical Summary concerning single lane mini-roundabout intersections. Click to read more »

Isn’t it time for the City’s Municipal Tax Review Committee to come out of the basement and meet in a more public setting, such as the City Council chambers, where meetings can be broadcast to Piedmont residents via KCOM and videotaped for city archives.

This important, nine-member committee of Piedmont residents has been meeting bi-weekly or weekly on Wednesday evenings for the past several months in the Piedmont Police Dept.’s emergency operations room on Highland Avenue.  The committee and City staff sit at tables arranged horse-shoe style around the room, while the audience must find seats in a few randomly placed office desk chairs in the back of the room.  Last week’s meeting drew an “overflow” crowd of about a dozen Piedmonters, requiring four or late comers to either stand or sit on the floor, including the City Administrator. Click to read more »

In response to a public records request made on June 25^th, the City provided the final master plans and traffic calming measures for the proposed Blair Park sports complex, which were submitted to the City by project architect Clarence Mamuyac three months ago, on April 1. Additional information was submitted by Mamuyac on April 7 and May 10.  To date, the City has not officially released any of the final plans to the general public; nor has the City Council set a date for a “final” public hearing on the proposed development.

Cost estimates for the construction, operation and maintenance of the project, which the Council requested in March, have not yet been provided by Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization  (PRFO), the project proponent.

Click to read more »

Read comments from Jack Follick, Richard Raushenbush and Rick Schiller
and join the lively discussion on artificial turf replacement.

“PRFO has firmly asserted turf replacement cost is not a responsibility of PRFO or the private sports clubs.”

“Most [School] Districts do not have the use we have by outside groups. . . . . “

Read more . . .

At its Wednesday, July 7 meeting, the City’s Municipal Tax Review Committee (MTRC) tackledthe dire financial scenarios that lie ahead for Piedmont unless the City Council makes some major changes.

The Committee projects that – even with renewal of the parcel tax – current trends will result in Piedmont suffering ongoing and worsening deficits in future years:  a $1.6 million deficit in 2015-16 rising to a $3.2 million deficit in 2019-20. Click to read more »

Will voters paint with too broad a brush?

The worst kept secret in Piedmont is that City Council decisions involving utility undergrounding, staff benefits, and recreational facilities have created a fiscal crisis.  As bad, if not worse, the Council has no strategy for fixing the problem.   Indeed, it remains unclear how we will avoid what a member of the Council appointed Municipal Review Tax Committee (MRTC) called a “homeowner’s revolt” when the city increases the sewer tax by 50% and asks Piedmonters, already among the most heavily taxed homeowners in the state, to extend the parcel tax.  The MRTC further noted that without major change in Council behavior, the city would soon incur large deficits even if the parcel tax were extended. Click to read more »