Discovery Bay Press_7.31.09

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YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa

Vol. 7, No. 31

Including Surrounding Communities

Commissioners consider future by Dave Roberts Staff Writer Few East County residents know that the East County Regional Planning Commission (ECRPC) even exists – and now it might be going away. The three commissioners who showed up at the July 13 meeting (one was absent and the fifth seat is vacant) voted to recommend that the commission be suspended due to the lack of economic development in East County lately and for the foreseeable future. “There’s nothing going on,” said Commissioner Bob Doran of Discovery Bay. “So as far as I am concerned, it’s a waste of money (to keep the commission). Some day again it might be necessary, but right now there’s nothing going on.” In the three months Doran has been on the commission it has considered only one signifi-

cant project, a residential development in the area of the Bay Point Marina. At their July 13 meeting, the commissioners discussed the board’s future. “Each one of us made a comment,” said Doran. “Mine was: there’s no reason for the expense of it. It’s really expensive to do that (commission). You take (a project) that’s been in the mill for five years – that’s a lot of people that (report) has to be FedExed to. It just runs up expenses. They have to pay rent for the Antioch council building (where the meetings are held) and county people get paid for coming (as staff to the meetings).” If the county supervisors decide in August to follow the commissioners’ recommendation, the commission would cease to exist on Oct. 7. Its duties would be taken over by the countywide planning

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Welcome back

THIS WEEK

Playground aid rolls in

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Aquatic augmentation Photo by Richard Wisdom

irst-grade teacher Beth Mermann takes questions while leading her class on a tour of the Timber Point Elementary School campus on Tuesday, the first day of class.

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Protesters float an idea to the capital by Ruth Roberts Staff Writer

Photo by Richard Wisdom

July 31, 2009

A golf tournament raised funds to give special kids a chance to romp at their own level.

see Commission page 14A

Bill Worrell, left, Sportsman Yacht Club Commodore Steve Martinez and Roger Mammon are just a few of the participants in the upcoming Million Boat Float. The event is designed to bring awareness to the state’s proposed water-diversion canal.

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Bruce Connelley believes in the concept of Power to the People, and he’s counting on the popular credo of the 1960s to make a difference in 2009. “There is a spirit in America today that some cynics think has died; that complacency is the norm nowadays, but I don’t believe it,” said the Oakley city councilman. “I don’t believe it at all.” And he’s set on proving it with an event called The Million Boat Float, a two-day assemblance designed to draw attention to the state’s proposed construction of a $40 billion alternate-conveyance system that many believe is a thinly veiled move toward a peripheral canal. “The goal (of the event) is to wake people up to what is happening in the Delta,” said Connelley. “The idea is to bring national attention to the issue because no one is listening to us,

the stakeholders.” The proposed canal, which proponents say is designed to improve water quality and habitat conditions in the Delta, has the backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and is the centerpiece of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, whose goal is to secure a canal under the Endangered Species Act. California voters rejected a similar peripheral canal proposal in 1982, but this time around, state administrators claim they don’t need voter approval. So with apparently no governmental input at the local level, residents such as Connelley fear a lack of transparency and little chance of a raising a voice in the process. “It comes down to this: other elected officials from local and federal levels have tried to work with the government to work it out,” said Connelley. “But it hasn’t worked that way. It’s all been a charade.” see Protesters page 14A

A wastewater-plant upgrade will cost the customers of a nearby sanitary district some extra bucks.

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Playing in the Streets

No one can accuse the Streets of Brentwood of being a grumpy neighbor – it’s happy to let kids play on its lawn.

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INSIDE Back to School ..................8A Calendar ..........................23B Classifieds .......................... 8B Entertainment ................12B Health & Beauty .............11B Milestones ......................... 7B Opinion ...........................13A Sports ................................. 1B WebExtras! ....................... 1B

FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A


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