IT’S YOUR PAPER www.claytonpioneer.com
June 24, 2011
925.672.0500
City’s budget balanced but precarious TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Clayton will go into the 2011-’12 fiscal year with a $3.65 million operating budget that is “austere and spartan” but balanced, city manager Gary Napper told the City Council at the June 7 meeting. “We’re really in pretty good shape, considering
where other cities are right now,” said Councilwoman Julie Pierce. The city’s budget has essentially been flat over the past three years, with declining real estate values and state take-aways putting pressure on the city at every turn. The city has kept the budget balanced through cuts to every non-essential program, a tight rein on expenditures, furlough
days and concessions amounting to more than $300,000 by the city’s 26 employees – all without cutting services or drawing on reserves, Napper said. The total city budget, which includes the general fund, capital improvements and replacements, special districts, restricted funds and the Redevelopment Agency, is $14,565,197 – down $21,376
from last year. At $1.524 million, the capital improvement budget includes the community park parking lot expansion currently underway (half of the cost of this project comes from East Bay Regional Park District grant), some neighborhood street repairs and paving, enlarging the sewer line under
See Budget, page 18
General Fund Operating Budget 2011-12 Engineering $96,448 Library $130,589
Community Park Legislative $176,574 $59,448
Admin/Finance $833,745 Public Works $120,897 Comm. Dev. $255,833
Police $1,834,622 Total: $3,651,536
Gen. Support $143,380 Source-City of Clayton
Clayton Fountain still green, less thirsty TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
DAVE SHUEY
MAYOR’S CORNER
A call to letters First, I wanted to thank all of you that have sent in your emails of support for the Clayton Valley High School charter conversion. I believe we are now over 1,000 supporters, which is amazing but not enough. We need everyone, and I mean everyone, in the Clayton Valley draw area, including you Concordians who read this paper, to send in your support. This is whether your kids/grandkids go there, will go there, have gone there and even if you don’t have any kids but want your property values to go
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
THE NEW FOUNTAIN LANDSCAPING AT THE CORNER OF CLAYTON ROAD AND OAKHURST BLVD., was finished last week. The landscaping is low-maintenance, drought tolerant and complies with water conservation and stormwater management requirements. The fountain is a favorite spot for local photographers.
City crews finished the relandscaping of the Clayton Fountain last week with a splash of green sod across the front. The new design is droughttolerant and low maintenance and reduces the previous lawn area by 65 percent. Bioswales in the median and at the east end of the fountain are designed to manage storm water, filtering it and sending it back into the ground instead of allowing it to run off into the storm drains. The new landscaping replaces the high maintenance, water thirsty lawns and annuals that died in last year’s drought. After some initial criticism of the starkness of the design, public reaction to the finished product has been overwhelmingly positive, says Maintenance Supervisor Mark Janney.
See Fountain, page 17
See Mayor, page 9
Shutterbugs Enter the Clayton Pioneer’s
Photo Contest Cash Prizes
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA PERMIT 190
See July 4 story for details
Pancakes, parade, photo contest mark July 4 “The Spirit of America in Clayton” is the theme for this year’s 4th of July celebration Independence Day starts early in Clayton – at 7 a.m., with a pancake breakfast cooked by the Clayton Valley/Sunrise Rotary Club at Endeavor Hall. This is a major fundraiser for the club which supports local youth camps and programs, the library and charities including the Food Bank. At 9 a.m., the kids beginning lining up for the kiddie parade which begins at 10 a.m. Kids on foot, on bikes and trikes, in wagons and strollers, on scooters and on dad’s shoulders with everything, including the family dog, decked out in red, white and blue parade down Main Street. Following the kiddie parade, Emcee ABC7 News Anchor Dan Ashley joins the spectators and local choir Yesterday’s Kids in singing the National Anthem and the
first of the local dignitaries in convertibles begin to roll down Main Street. ENTER THE PHOTO CONTEST Capture the moment and share your favorite images of the day with the Pioneer readers. Enter the 9th annual Clayton Pioneer July 4 Photo Contest. The contest is open to all adults (over 12) and kids (12 and under.) who live in the Clayton Pioneer distribution area. The winning photos will be published in the July 15 issue of the Pioneer. Each individual may submit up to three photos, but only one of those photos can win a prize. Submit snapshot size prints – 3” x 5”, 4” x 6” or 5” x 7”. Photos must have been taken during this year’s July 4 Celebration in downtown Clayton. On the back of each photo, put your name, address, phone number and whether you are entering as an adult or a child.
The Clayton City Council has had it with vandals. City officials are fed up with the cost of replacing broken fences, gazebo slats and washing graffiti off the tunnel walls. So they want to put security cameras in strategic locations around town in hopes of catching the culprits who repeatedly damage city property. This year, there have been 41 vandalism acts reported to police, Chief Dan Lawrence reported at the June 7 City
See July 4, page 3
See Vandals, page 13
What’s Inside Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Book Review . . . . . . . . . . .15 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
City has a plan to spy on vandals
Community Calendar . . . .14 Concert Schedule . . . . . . . .3 Directory of Advertisers . . . .5
DVMS Reporter . . . . . . . . . .7 Financial Sense . . . . . . . . .9 Fit with Levity . . . . . . . . . .16 Food for Thought . . . . . . .17 Garden Girl . . . . . . . . . . . .18
TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Letters to the Editor . . . . . .9 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Safety Zone . . . . . . . . . . . .18 So Anyway . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Sports Shorts . . . . . . . . . . .11 Teen Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15