Brentwood
City of Brentwood
Among the many events the City of Brentwood provides its residents are the Iris Festival, the Starry Nights concert series, and the CornFest, which offers kids a whirl on carnival rides.
‘Heart of Plenty’ moves into the future
T
ransition is the name of the game in Brentwood these days, as years of doubledigit housing growth came to an abrupt halt amid the mortgage and financial crisis sweeping the country. While the expectation among city leaders had been that a shift from residential to economic growth was on the horizon, the speed with which it overtook the city required a quicker adaptation than planned. The city, however, has been able to respond, maintaining a balanced budget and a healthy reserve of 30 percent of its annual operating budget. Some growth-related jobs at City Hall were trimmed, but the police budget has remained intact. Also, the authority and practices of the Code Enforcement Department were enhanced to keep the city looking good in the face of empty houses resulting from the real estate slump. Meanwhile, the first phase of the biggest retail project in the city’s history, the Streets of Brentwood, opened in October. The first 300,000 square feet of upscale shopping, dining and entertainment – Rave Motion Pictures operates a 14-screen, all-digital theater at the Streets – will eventually grow to 400,000, adding more than $1 million per year to the city’s sales-tax coffers. Planning for the new, $75 million downtown civic center continues, although city officials will wait for the economy to stabilize before committing to bonds or beginning construction on the majority of the project. Improvements to the downtown streetscape portion of the project are moving ahead, however, in an effort to keep the city’s traditional commercial core viable in the face of increased competition. Agriculture continues to play an important part in Brentwood. The City Council continues to work with the Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust on acquiring easements that will keep nearby farmland in agriculture in perpetuity. Winemaking and organic farms, as well as the area’s famed U-Pick farms, continue to help the Brentwood area serve as the transition zone between the suburban areas to the west and the breadbasket of the Central Valley. 26 Welcome!
The Magazine of East County
2008-2009