Oakley Press_02.26.10

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Your Hometown Web Site www.thepress.net

ward Winning News al A pa

YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Vol. 10, No. 9

Downtown plan gets green light by Samie Hartley Staff Writer The crowd at Tuesday’s Oakley City Council meeting burst into applause following the council’s unanimous vote to approve the Downtown Specific Plan, a document that has been evolving over the past 10 years to lay groundwork for the revitalization of Oakley’s dormant downtown. “Congratulations to this community,” announced Mayor Pat Anderson. “We have a Downtown Specific Plan.” The plan is a blueprint for improvements to 80 acres of the downtown area to be achieved over the next few years. It calls for capital-improvement projects such as a realignment of Highway 4 that will move heavy traffic away from Main Street. The city

is currently engaged in talks with Caltrans to regain control over Main Street once the bypass is finished. When the work is completed, Oakley will have a pedestrian-friendly downtown area enhanced by benches and shade trees. The idea is to make downtown Oakley a destination not only for residents of far East County but the entire Bay Area. Oakley is hoping its refurbished downtown will attract new businesses while boosting foot traffic for existing businesses. Councilman Kevin Romick said the Downtown Specific Plan is designed to lay the groundwork that will help the downtown area become what residents, business owners and city officials have dreamed since Oakley gained

Making census of it all

Photo by Ruth Roberts

elta Vista Middle School students, from left – Amanda Mello, Roselle Mendes and Keirra Lathrop – study a list of U.S. Census questions as part of classroom lesson on the upcoming census. The story is on Page 8A.

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by Dave Roberts Staff Writer

Online Now!

Photo by Dave Roberts

David Fraser, chief of staff for County Supervisor Federal Glover, said that residents must prepare for an influx of exconvicts, possibly by the end of the year, to relieve prison overcrowding.

www.thepress.net Your Hometown Web Site

This Week Local lass spreads cheer

‘45 kept alive

see Downtown page 18A

bent on doing any thing good. They like the crazy life and doing harm.” The prisoner-release program was announced in Septem-

February 26, 2010

NFL fans in Europe got a Super Bowl Sunday bonus when the Niners’ Gold Rush Girls made a morale-boosting appearance. Page 4A

Prisoner release could challenge East County Some of the 20,000-plus convicts due to be released early to relieve overcrowding in state prisons will begin arriving in East County by the end of this year or early next year, according to David Fraser, chief of staff for County Supervisor Federal Glover, speaking at last week’s meeting of the Antioch Crime Prevention Commission. “You should know that individuals coming out of prison and returning to the city, many of them actually end up going right back to prison,” Fraser said to the two dozen people at the meeting in the community room of the Antioch Police Station. This is due to “social, economic factors and some individuals are simply hardcore criminals not

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ber in response to a U.S. District Court ruling in August that state prisons, which are at nearly double their capacity, have two years to reduce overcrowding to

Winter showcase go to news/WebExtras!

Special Gateway students laced ‘em up and found that ice can be nice.

no more than 137 percent of the prison space. That would require a reduction of about 40,000 prisoners, but Fraser believes the number returning to California communities will be about half of that. State officials responded with a three-year prisoner reduction plan that includes sending fewer parole violators back to prison, reducing the time that prisoners serve, deporting illegal immigrant prisoners, reducing to a misdemeanor thefts less than $950 and allowing low-risk offenders to serve the last year of their sentence under house arrest. “We are faced with a court mandate to reduce the prison population, and individuals are see Prisoner page 18A

Student art

go to news/press releases Antioch’s Lynn House Gallery devotes major wall space to aspiring talent.

Memories were mined and sorrows relived as veterans recalled the war that shaped the modern world. Page 3A

Perfection eludes Falcons

The dream of 26-0 fell by the wayside, but Freedom’s hoop stars are still primed for the playoffs. Page 3B

Plus: Business .............................12A Calendar ............................ 19B Classifieds ......................... 12B Cop Logs ............................15A Entertainment ................. 10B Health & Beauty ................ 6B Opinion ..............................14A Sports ................................... 1B

FOR MOVIE TIMES SEE PAGE 5A

Epic memories

go to multimedia/videos Venerable vets cast light on the monumental events of World War II.


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