May 24 Meeting Notes

Watch replay here

Topics

Report from Officer Jason Mallari
Adams School Site
Mural Restoration at San Pablo Ave. and McDonald freeway undercrossings
Dollar Tree developments
Solano Ave & Traffic Calming Program for Richmond
Grant program
General Updates

Report from Officer Jason Mallari

Officer Jason Mallari joined us to discuss recent activity in beat 7. He reported that the number one incident is stolen vehicles. He recommends installing a security system that captures video and audio. His experience is that steering wheel clubs are not a fool-proof way to prevent car theft.

Someone asked about preventing cars from spinning in circles at intersections. Officer Mallari said that cameras don’t effectively capture license plates at night when this activity is more common, so he encourages neighbors to take down license plate numbers and report it to RPD. Info on car make, model, color of the car, is also useful. He commented that physical barriers in the street (roundabouts, stand-up-delineators, etc) can help. Officer Mallari is also works with a K-9 dog.

Adams School Site

A professional parliamentarian has been hired to assist the 7-11 Committee. The Committee can only determine future use options for the property after the school board determines the Adams site is surplus property and no longer viable for educational uses. The school was closed over a dozen years ago due to its proximity to the Hayward fault. Therefore, the school board will likely deem the Adams site surplus property. After that, government agencies and non-profits get the first right of refusal to develop the property.

The most likely outcome for the property is residential housing due to existing zoning, neighborhood character, and potential financial benefits to the school district. One interest  is affordable housing for school district employees. This is being pursued in Cupertino, Palo Alto, Milpitas, and San Jose.

Residents of unincorporated West Contra Costa County, including neighbors Adele Ho and Joann Pavlinec, have been working to get language into the Contra Costa General Plan that requires community workshops and design forums to guide development of the site.

Mural Restoration at San Pablo Ave. and McDonald freeway undercrossings

John Wehrle will be advising a team of artists on restoration of murals on San Pablo Ave and MacDonald Ave. The principal painters will be Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez and Jerarde Gutierrez. The restoration work is part of a several million-dollar CalTrans grant to upgrade the area around MacDonald Ave and San Pablo Ave. New murals in keeping with the existing work are also planned for the overpass walls on the opposite side of the street,

Dollar Tree developments

ERNC President Jim Hanson reported on a call to the City’s Planning Director, Lina Velasco, following our April 9th meeting organized by Councilmember Jimenez with Planning staff on the Dollar Tree’s Use Permit Conditions of Approval. Responding to our earlier request, Director Velasco said that the City, rather than Dollar Tree, would be conducting the traffic study to avoid a conflict of interest. At the April meeting we were also assured that the Neighborhood Council would be consulted on the scope of the traffic safety study, however the Planning Director makes the final decision on safety measures. The traffic safety study will also need to describe how added traffic will be controlled into the neighborhood.

Heather Bristow, ERNC Secretary, has been reviewing the parking lot lighting plans. Based on her preliminary analysis, she voiced concerns that the total parking lot “lumens” (a measure of light intensity) went well beyond what code allows. The required commercial sound-absorbing wall also needs additional monitoring and oversight. Dollar Tree’s plan to control sound intrusion at the loading dock appears to be inadequate.

Planning Director Velasco and Senior Planner Hector Lopez continue to confirm that the store cannot open until all Use Permit Conditions of Approval are met.

Solano Ave & Traffic Calming Program for Richmond

Neighbors have submitted nearly 100 cumulative verbal and emailed public comments to City Council and the Finance Department since April, in favor of safe crossings and traffic calming solutions on Solano Ave between Highway 80 and San Pablo Ave. Public Works committed to presenting the next batch of traffic calming projects by the end of 2024, and potentially providing some sort of temporary measures along this stretch of Solano until a more permanent project can come before the Council for a vote at the end of the year. ERNC is looking forward to an update on potential temporary measures.

Solano Ave is one of three major thoroughfares through East Richmond (the others being McBryde and Barrett), the only of which there are no plans for traffic calming and/or providing safe crossings for pedestrians. Meanwhile, the city has already determined that this stretch of Solano Ave falls within the city’s “Vehicle High Injury Network” that overall accounts for 56% of Richmond’s collisions, yet are only 8% of its roads. The city has also determined that this corridor is a “High-Priority Pedestrian Improvement Spot” (with a 76/100 score). The city’s traffic Local Roadway Safety Plan also documents a fatal and severe collision on Ventura and Solano.

Grant program

The City of Richmond has been awarded a grant in conjunction with the Richmond Neighborhood Coordinating Council for 20 neighborhood councils. Small grants are available to increase “neighbor-to-neighbor” connectivity. One idea that we’ve raised for East Richmond is a pilot project to apply artistic images at a street intersection to promote traffic calming and pedestrian safety. It’s an approach shared with us at our 2023 meetings in Mira Vista and Burg parks with Councilmember Jimenez, and that has proved successful in other cities.

If anyone is interested in helping to organize and manage a neighbor-to-neighbor grant proposal, please drop an email to eastrichmondnc@gmail.com