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July Fourth parade will be held by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
BRENTWOOD The Brentwood Fourth of July parade is back on. A week after the City Council shelved the parade to allow city staff time to explore alternate event routes to accommodate reduced COVID-19-spreading measures, the governing body unanimously approved a parade path and several other stipulations that they feel calm past concerns. The council has opted to scale the event back to one hour; change the proposed route; limit attendance; and implement restricted, socially distant and mask-required viewing areas — all while promising enforcement of the rules. Brentwood residents are expected to be given two weeks to pre-register to view the event, before it is opened up to all others around the end of June, city officials said. “I think our city has done a wonderful job,” said City Coun-
The City of Brentwood hosted the Classic Fourth of July Parade and Celebration in downtown Brentwood, Calif., Thursday, July 4, 2019. A scaledback parade will be held this year.
Photo by Tony Kukulich
cilmember Johnny Rodriguez. “Golly, I don’t know how many hours (this plan) has taken for (Recreation Supervisor Stacey Dempsey) and parks and rec staff to put together.” The July 4 parade, scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., will start at Birch Street, before heading down 1st Street to Maple Street. It will then make a right on Maple Street to 2nd Street, a right on 2nd Street,
a left on Oak Street and finish off at the end of the playground area. The dedicated viewing crowd is expected to be capped at around 1,100 spectators, who will be required to pre-register for one of an estimated 16 viewing areas along the route. Inside those zones, masks are expected to be required, and attending groups will be socially distanced from one another. Dempsey hinted that a host
of city staff and volunteers will unite to enforce attendance requirements. “Anyone who wants to come but not be in the viewing areas, whether they are going to a business or they just want to walk downtown, cannot stop and watch the parade in any of those areas that are designated for Americans see Parade page 18A
Bear spotted in Oakley, Discovery Bay by Tony Kukulich Staff Writer
OAKLEY The sighting of a black bear in East County last week has grabbed the interest of many residents, and it may be the first such sighting in many decades. The first reports of a large animal, possibly a bear, were made to the Oakley Police Department (OPD) around 8 a.m., Friday, June 4. The animal was spotted in the vicinity of Delta Vista Middle School. Residents provided officers home surveillance video that confirmed the presence of a bear wandering the neighborhood in the hours before dawn. “Our officers have not located the bear, nor have we made contact with anybody who has actually physically seen the Business............................................... 8B Calendar..............................................2A
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bear,” the OPD said in a social media posting dated June 4. “We do however believe it is quite possible for the bear to still be in the general vicinity.” According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the population of black bears is believed to number between 30,000 - 40,000, though that estimate is called conservative. It is unknown when a bear was last seen in Contra Costa County. A 2010 article in the Mercury News referenced a bear that was struck by a car in Orinda in the 1930s. The story states that officials at the time believed the bear to have been captured in the Sierras as a cub and kept illegally in captivity before an escape that led to it getting struck by a car. An
by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
OAKLEY City leaders have cleared the way for a proposed residential housing project to proceed that’s expected to generate communitywide benefits. The proposed 208-single-family home project on 43.24-acres — 27 acres of which are owned by the city but expected to be sold as part of the total 43-acre property — at the northeast corner of East Cypress Road see Sale page 18A
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A bear was captured on a home video security system in Discovery Bay Sunday morning. Earlier in the weekend, this bear was spotted roaming through a neighborhood in Oakley. Milestones..........................................8A Opinion..............................................12A
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