The Public Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 5:30 p.m in the City Hall Council Chambers.   The recently extended term of the Committee authorizes their activities for another year.   The Committee has been active in promoting neighborhood organizing and City email notification to citizens desiring information on hazardous or emergency situations.  The Committee proposed by Council Member Margaret Fujioka continues to have a number of items to pursue in regard to public safety and emergency preparedness.   The May 19 meeting agenda will be posted on the City website closer to the date of the meeting.  Read Committee’s Charge.

“Rethinking Plastics,” an informative program sponsored by Piedmont CONNECT on Sunday, May 1, 2011, while acknowledging that plastic is ubiquitous (found in everything from clothing to car parts), also illustrated numerous ways we can reduce the wasteful and dangerous use of plastic in our daily lives. Click to read more »

A PCA Editorial urging increased online access  and broadcast of important civic meetings

Piedmont is in the midst of making critical decisions on expenditures.  Meetings are being held, yet not televised on KCOM, nor videotaped, and in some cases no minutes will be available.   Meetings take place in venues other than the City Hall Council Chambers, while the Chambers are available.  Due to the cost of videoing from other locations, only meetings held in the City Hall Council Chambers can be readily videotaped and broadcast. Click to read more »

Discussions of Piedmont’s 2011-2012 Proposed Budget are beginning.  The best time to ask questions and provide input will be at the Budget Workshop on Saturday, May 21st at 9 a.m. At the Workshop the proposed budget will be presented in detail by the City Administrator and department heads.  The public is welcome to attend and ask questions at the workshop.  City Council Members use the opportunity to make inquiries and request additional information of staff in an informal setting. The workshop will take place in the Police Department Emergency Operations Center and will not be videotaped nor on KCOM; attendance is necessary in order to participate in this important process in the development of the budget.

Two additional City Council hearings on the budget will follow the Workshop on June 6 and June 20.

The City Administrator noted that significant pressure on the City’s finances will come from inadequately funded reserves, together with significant new costs, including:

• demand by Oakland for $665,000 – almost double prior voluntary contributions for library services of $350,471 – despite its threatened closure of 15 of 19 libraries.

• pool costs of $380,000 due to the City takeover from a former private volunteer-run organization – despite prior estimates of $127,000 to $327,000.

• sewer replacement fund deficit of $2.8 million ($300,000 from the Crest Road collapse and $2.3 million from new EPA demands) to pay for phases IV, V and VI over the next 3 years.  (Phase I, II & III of the 7 phase project have been completed; final phase VII costs have not been shown in the budget.)

• artificial turf installation/replacement for existing and new City sports fields

For questions regarding the budget contact Mark Bichsel, Finance/HR Director, via email at mbichsel@ci.piedmont.ca.us or by phone at 420-3045.  See the 2011-2012 Proposed Budget

The Capital Improvement Projects Committee will be discussing staff proposals for 2011-12 capital improvement projects, the status of projects and a proposed work schedule on May 10. The meeting will be held in the City Conference Room at 120 Vista Avenue.  This meeting will not be video recorded nor televised. A staff report is now available at CIP-Agenda & Staff Report May 10, 2011.  Click to read more »

A letter addressing whether rent and other provisions are similar in the two leases

Editors,

At the May 2 City Council meeting, the City Administrator said at least twice that the handling of the 801 Magnolia property was consistent with the handling of the pool decades ago.  As I understand it, his point is that, like the Magnolia lease, the original 1964 pool lease did not involve cash rent, because at the conclusion of the original lease the improvements (the pools and changing rooms) became the city’s property and thus served as “in-kind” rent.

However – the lessees of the 801 Magnolia property are not building an expensive new facility on vacant City-owned land at their own expense, as the Swim Club did – Click to read more »

The City of Piedmont issued the following notice regarding weed abatement which will be done at Blair Park, noting this work is unrelated to the Moraga Canyon Sports Field Proposal.  No chemicals will be used to abate the weeds, only a mechanical “weed-eater.” Click to read more »

Just one week after Piedmont sent a check for $350,471 to Oakland for library services (2009-10 billed in arrears), Oakland’s Mayor Jean Quan has announced a proposal to close 15 of its 19 libraries.

On Friday, April 29, Oakland Mayor, Jean Quan, called for either the closure of all City libraries except the Main Library and 3 branches or a library budget cut of $400,000, an amount almost identical to Piedmont’s payment.  

The closure proposal would affect Montclair, Piedmont Avenue, Temescal (including its tool library), as well as the Asian, Brookfield, Cezar Chavez, Dimond, Eastmont, Elmhurst, Golden Gate, Lakeview, Martin Luther King, Melrose,  and West Oakland branch libraries and the African American Museum and Library.  The funding for new books and DVDs would be severely limited.  Electronic services such as downloadable books and databases would be discontinued.  The hours for the Oakland History Room in the Main library would be reduced.

The City of Piedmont included no restrictions on Oakland’s use of its recent $350,471 contribution, e.g. requiring that the dollars result in an increase in the Oakland Library budget or that services be maintained.

No Piedmont payments for library services go into the Oakland Library budget according to the Oakland Associate Library Director Gerry Garzon.  Residents of Piedmont often identify the desire to support the Oakland Libraries as a rationale for making a library service payment to Oakland.  However, Piedmont’s “library service” payments are used as general funds, not for Oakland Libraries.  Click to read more »

The Piedmont League of Women Voters Task Force on utility undergrounding presented its extensive investigation in a public forum entitled “Lessons Learned in Undergrounding”on April 26.  Task Force members Mary Heller, Rob Hendrickson, Kathleen Quenneville [Chair], Al Peters and Alex Gunst discussed their findings and recommendations.  The Task Force expertise includes construction litigation, public policy administration and legal issues, engineering, accounting, mediation, construction management, and past experience as a Piedmont Mayor.

The City Council Chamber was filled to capacity with  citizens interested in the presentation and discussion of a failed and costly private undergrounding district. The Task Force made the following suggestions for changes to Council and staff procedures and policies to prevent failure and cost overruns in future underground utilities and other civic projects.

The City Council’s Role Click to read more »

From Michael Rancer, Chair of the 2011 Municipal Tax Review Committee:

In March, the Piedmont City Council appointed a Municipal Tax Review Committee, charged with responsibility for recommending the next parcel tax when the current one expires on June 30, 2013.  Click to read more »