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Vol. 24, No. 13
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Officials, public discuss how to fix homeless problem by Melissa van Ruiten Staff Writer
BRENTWOOD Local officials held a virtual town hall meeting recently to discuss the area’s homeless problem and how to fix it. “In 2014, I was appointed as the homeless liaison for our department. During that time, I’ve seen our homeless population steadily rise on our city streets, public parks, and other public areas throughout the city.” said Sgt. Chris Peart, a 17year Brentwood police veteran, at the March 16 meeting. “It started with roughly two to three individuals, to where we currently sit and fluctuate between 35-40 individuals out on the street.” Local and state laws prohibit people from living in a building owned by someone else without their permission. But laws have changed to benefit unsheltered
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A homeless encampment on Walnut Boulevard. people. In 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made a landmark ruling in Martin vs. Boise: cities such as Brentwood cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough shelter beds for homeless people, according to Wikipedia. The decision was
based on the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The case was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019, but justices declined to hear the appeal, which left the precedent intact for the nine Western states, including California,
that fall under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit. The ruling does still allow for citations or arrests of individuals who are offered shelter placement, but refuse to go. “Our end goal is to connect with our homeless population and connect them with services” such as Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement (CORE), which offers services and resources, said Peart. While city and county officials want to manage the problem, they appear to not agree on how to do so. “We still need more, and we need to think about where prevention fits into this and where those resources are going,” said Lavonna Martin, Contra Costa Deputy Health Services Director. “We’re already behind when we’re talking about waiting for the crisis response system to solve the problem.” Brentwood Police Chief Tom see Homeless page 18
Key area road plans move forward Correspondent
REGIONAL A long-proposed major roadway project a decade in the making in Brentwood and Antioch is closer to becoming a reality. The proposed extension on Sand Creek Road will provide much-needed traffic relief in the region, officials say. The major east-west thoroughfare linking southeast Antioch with central Brentwood, is set to undergo construction to extend its current terminus in Brentwood just west of its interchange with Highway 4 to a new intersection at Heidorn Ranch Road in southeast
Antioch. With an estimated cost of $14.5 million, this phase of the project is fully funded and is expected to start in early 2023 and be completed by the end of 2023, Brentwood officials said. “This project is part of a regional effort to improve the transportation network in East Contra Costa County and will specifically benefit Brentwood by providing a quicker connection to (Kaiser Permanente-Antioch),” said Brentwood Assistant Director of Public Works Jagtar Dhaliwal. “It will benefit the circulation in the region in various ways.” see Sand Creek page 18
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Aerial view of Sand Creek Road, looking east from Antioch toward Brentwood.
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Antioch police scrutinized by Jake Menez Staff Writer
ANTIOCH Police officers from both the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments are part of an active investigation by the FBI and Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office for a range of unspecified alleged crimes. They are described as a “broad range of offenses” involving crimes of “moral turpitude,” according to a March 25 press release by the office, and involve officers from both departments. Moral turpitude is a broad term without a singular established definition, according to Cornell Law School, due to the amorphous concept of morality. However, courts have consistently described conduct that involves moral turpitude as “an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow men, or to society in general.” The District Attorney’s Office and FBI conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” at multiple locations on March 23, according to the press release, but the nature of these activities was not disclosed. Additionally, the agencies plan to review both active and closed cases involving the officers in question to determine whether or not the cases are now considered compromised. Due to the ongoing investigation, no further information was made available. The involved cities and police departments have agreed to cooperate with the investigation to “ensure minimal disruption to their respective communities,” according to the press release.
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