YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 11, No. 13
Including Surrounding Communities
www.brentwoodpress.com
Civic Center gets green light by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer After more than a decade of planning and a year of caution, the City Council Tuesday gave the thumbs-up to proceed with the city’s new Civic Center. The 3-2 vote, with Councilmen Erick Stonebarger and Brandon Richey dissenting, clears the way for the $64.2 million phase one – consisting of the new city hall, community center and re-vamped City Park – to move ahead. The current timeline calls for the project to go out to bid in June and construction to start in September. The decision came after a number of factors that once fostered a sense of caution on the council aligned to create a favorable window of opportunity. Among them is the fact that interest rates are at historic lows, making it an attractive time to finance the $39.7 million that will be borrowed. (The city has already salted away $24.5 million in developer fees dedicated to the project.) Thanks to the recession, construction costs are also low. Antioch’s Prewett Park Community Center, which was put out to bid this month, was expected to cost $17.6 million, but bids came in nearly 30 percent
March 27, 2009
THIS WEEK
Get the jump on spring
From red-hot rods to high-tech orange tires, our Spring Auto Care Guide will put you in the fast lane. Photo by Rick Lemyre
Mayor Bob Taylor awards a key to the city to Jeanne and Jack Adams at Tuesday’s council meeting. The award recognized the couples’ decades of service to the Brentwood community, which included a quilt made by Jeanne depicting Brentwood history. The quilt, which hangs in the council chambers, was completed in 1988. “So they’re just getting around to the fact that I made it,” she cracked. “Boy, they are really speedy.” lower, at $12.4 million. Also, construction of Brentwood’s Senior Center, completed last month, cost $5.3 million, 12 percent less than the $6 million budgeted. “If we were to save 20 percent ... that’s more than $10 million,” Councilman Chris
Becnel said. “I understand being cautious about the economy, but East County, and Brentwood in particular, has always marched to its own drum. Brentwood should see Civic Center page 17A
Time marches on in far East County by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer This is the third and final installment of a three-part series on the efforts of two far East County towns to retain their heritage and remain rural and small in the face of regional growth and changing local politics. For a look at parts one and two, log on to thepress. net. The meetings could not have been much more different. In Byron, the new Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) members – Linnea Juarez, Al Beltran, Don Della Nina, Ron Schmit and Dennis Lopez – quickly appointed Juarez chair and Beltran vice chair. They got a rundown on county business from District III Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, reports from police and the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, and stopped the
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Photo by Stacey Chance/DiscoveryBayStudios.com
Downtown Knightsen awakens one recent weekend morning. Proponents hope to keep the hamlet small and rural. meeting briefly to file outside and inspect a new fire engine. In front of an attentive but mostly silent audience, the MAC talked briefly about meeting space, park dedication fees, code enforce-
ment and the Brown Act, and was done. Six days later and a few miles away, the new Knightsen Town Advisory Council (KTAC) members – Linda Weeks, Jack
Check it out!
Burge, Chantel Tieman and Mike Walko (one seat remains unfilled) – picked Weeks as chair and Walko as vice chair. The agency reports and updates from Piepho ran about the same, but the crowd of about 100 was anything but sedentary. Before the evening ended, there were arguments, complaints, loud voices and an impromptu, nearunanimous show-of-hands vote to return things to the way they had been. Occasionally, shouts ricocheted around the room like shrapnel, but in the end, Roberts Rules of Order – and Weeks’ rubber mallet gavel – contained the passion, and business got done.
Battle of the boundaries It was one particular piece of business that had packed both meetings – highly unusual for see Time page 12A
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Spotlight on local biz An upcoming expo will stress the importance of supporting Brentwood’s local merchants.
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Extra stress, extra success
Two tough teams pushed a thrilling game into overtime – but the Patriots pushed harder.
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INSIDE Business ...........................16A Calendar ..........................19B Classifieds ........................13B Entertainment .................. 9B Food .................................10B Health & Beauty .............19A Milestones ......................... 8B Opinion ...........................14A Sports ...............................21A Spring Auto Care Guide .. 1B
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