Happy Holiday’s December 10, 2021
Checking it twice – the year that was BEV BRITTON The Pioneer
After the approval of several COVID-19 vaccines, 2021 began with new hope for a return to normal activities. “Together, we have weathered this terrible storm of a pandemic, and we can now see brighter days ahead,” Mayor Tim McGallian wrote in the spring. Things were indeed looking up – with the Concord Pavilion reopening for graduation ceremonies and a limited concert series and local musicians returning to Concord’s Todos Santos Plaza and The Grove in Clayton. But by August, Contra Costa County was among agencies relaunching mask mandates and the list of canceled events grew longer by the day. The backslide prompted Pioneer editor Tamara Steiner to speak out against vaccine hesitancy. “Fighting an attack on your community is not just a ‘personal choice.’ It’s the moral response to an invasion by a common enemy,” she wrote in a frontpage editorial. But as 2021 comes to a close, hope once again hovers on the horizon – with children age 5 and up now eligible for vaccines and booster shots available for all adults. Through it all, local life went on. Here’s a look at stories the Pioneer covered along the way: JANUARY Focusing in on nature: The Pioneer launched a new series featuring local parks, starting with Hillcrest Park in Concord. Through the year, columnist Lisa Fulmer walked readers through the highlights of Markham Nature Park and Arboretum, Lydia Lane Park. Brazil Quarry Park, Newhall Community Park, Meadow Homes Spray Park, The Grove, Concord Community Park and Pleasant Hill Park. An ever-evolving development plan: The Concord City Council began 2021 with a new ad hoc committee to refine the vision for the future of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station. In April, the council approved a Request for Qualifications. Three companies submitted applications, with the council ultimately selecting a bid from local developers Discovery Homes/Seeno Companies, Lewis Planned Communities and California Capital Investment Group. Many in the community expressed dismay over the selection, given Seeno’s
See 2021 page 8
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Mayors say more leadership needed from district attorney TAMARA STEINER The Pioneer
The Honorable Diana Becton District Attorney off Contra Costa County 900 Ward Street Mart rtinez, CA 94533 November 30, 2021 District Attorney Becton, We are writing to you today to express our serious concerns over the increase off large-sscale retail theft fts and property crimes that have been occurring in the Bay Area and to call on yourr offffice to help in the proper prosecution off these cases. The Novemberr 20, 2021 event at Nordstrom in Walnut Creek is among several such inccidents that have begun occurring with greater and greaterr fr frequency, creating an atmosphere of fe fear among ourr citizens, shoppers, and businesses. In the Walnut Creek incident, the thieves made off ff with an estimated $200,000 in merchandise and assaulted three employees. Fast action by b Walnut Creek Police led to three arrests. Your announcement that those arrested would fa face felony charges was met with great enthusiasm, and we are optimistic that you will fo fe follow through on yourr commitment to send a strong deterrent message to others who may thinnk about attempting similar theft fts in our cities. These are not “victimless” prope propertyy ttheft ft crimes. In addition to the assaults on the three employees, incidents like these emboolden others to fo follow suit and threatens the safe fety oof retail patrons, retailers, and bystanders. further such attempts is strong leaderrship What is needed to combat this increaase and currttail furt from your office and other district atttorney’s offices in part rtnership with our police depaartments. Cities throughout Contra Costa needd to know that when our law enffo orcement offfficers m make arrests the D.A.’s offffice will fo follow through with serious prosecutions that send a clearr message to these perpetrators that any similarr attempts will be met with severe consequences. Giiven the violent nature off this tactic, we fe fearr it i is only a matter off time befo fore innocent lives are llost. We and our communities look fforw orward a to hearing what actions your off ffice will be taking to address this increased criminal activity. Thank o
Mayorr Kevin Wilk Walnut Creek
Concord
M y
Clayton
Pleasant Hill
Mayoor Rob Schroder Marrttinez
Last month’s brazen smash and grab robbery at Nordstrom’s in Walnut Creek has pushed five Contra Costa mayors already fed up with escalating crime in their cities to call on District Attorney Diana Becton for stronger leadership. The mayors of Concord, Clayton, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Martinez say they are worried about organized retail theft and concerned with the lack of consequences for the perpetrators. The mayors are not alone. In a report to the city council last April, Concord police chief Mark Bustillos expressed frustration with repeat offenders and urged the Council to put pressure on the district attorney for more aggressive action. Walnut Creek taxpayers will spend $2 million of their COVID 19 rescue funds for additional police. Concord has its own plan for a municipal court to prosecute low-level property crimes. This is legal, says city attorney Suzanne Brown, but only with the permission of the district attorney. Mayor Tim McGallian says, to date, Becton has not been supportive. Instead, Becton says the county will set up Neighborhood Community Courts where citizen arbitrators will handle socalled “nuisance cases” without prosecution. At a virtual Clayton City Council meeting Oct. 19, she used an example of someone caught painting graffiti at City Hall. The arbitrators would hear the case and say, “I think you should repaint the building.” Councilmember Jeff Wan said this is not what victims want. They want those responsible “to be held accountable to the full extent of the law.” The Concord City Council will hear a report from the district attorney at the Dec. 14 virtual meeting. For a link, go to cityofconcord.org before the meeting.
Welcoming the condor back to Mount Diablo PAMELA MICHAEL Correspondent
For the first time in more than 100 years, North America’s largest land bird, the California condor, graced skies above the eastern slope of Mount Diablo this summer. Condor No. 828, a 6-yearold female, left Pinnacles National Park, flew around Livermore Valley for a time, then explored Morgan Territory. “She was probably looking for a nesting site,” posited Seth Adams, Save Mount Diablo’s land conservation director. “The cliffs and wind caves in the area are perfect condor habitat. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. And I’m convinced this wouldn’t be happening if we and our allies – state parks, etc. – hadn’t protected a big strip of open space down the Diablo Range to Henry Coe and Pinnacles.”
almost 10-foot wingspan, are relics of the Pleistocene Ice Age. They were once widespread across the country. But by the time of the Gold Rush, they had retreated west of the Rockies – surviving into the 20th century only in California. They figure prominently in the stories of many of California’s Indigenous tribes; “thunderbird” legends abound. Over time, their numbers decreased dramatically due to DDT, poaching and habitat destruction, but most of all because of lead poisoning. The birds feed on carrion, which is often contaminated by the lead from hunters’ ammunition. California banned lead bullets in 2019, though the recent ammunition shortage has prompted some hunters to resort to THE DAYS OF THE using old, leaded stock. This THUNDERBIRD has increased the lead poiCalifornia condors, New soning of the critically World vultures with an endangered birds.
Biologist Joe Burnett, California condor recovery program manager for the Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS), agrees. “The first time I saw Mount Diablo, I thought – this is condor country.” VWS works with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in managing the program’s condor release sites in both Pinnacles and Big Sur. The historic flight of 828, the first wild-fledged bird in the Pinnacles Condor Recovery Program, reached farther north in western California than any other condor since the release program began in the 1990s. Conservationists and bird-lovers are hopeful that the birds will repopulate their bygone habitats in the Diablo Range and beyond.
Photo by Tim Huntington/webnectar.com
Pinnacles condor No. 828 flew east of Mount Diablo on Sept. 12, 2021.
HATCHING A RESCUE PLAN In 1987, in a controversial and desperate attempt to save the species from certain extinction, the U.S. government implemented a bold conservation plan. They captured the 22 remaining birds and set up captive breeding
programs at San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. The hope was that the birds’ offspring could eventually be reintroduced into the wild, tagged and fitted with tracking
See Condor, page 7
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