Olympians head to Rio IT’S YOUR PAPER
www.concordpioneer.com
From the desk of...
July 22, 2016
925.672.0500
LAURA HOffMeISTeR
MAYOR
City approves twoyear capital improvement budget
The Concord City Council adopted a budget for operations (general fund) and capital projects on June 28. The budget process began at an April workshop, reviewing goals, community desires and providing staff direction on priorities. Ideas and suggestions are more than funds allow, and this process allows us to strategize and prioritize within our means. Another public workshop was in May, followed by two public hearings in June. The budget is balanced and continues all programs and services at current or enhanced levels, with some support of the half-cent sales tax that voters extended in 2014. It also provides additional investment in roads, buildings, information technology and parks through the capital improvement budget. In 2015, the city established two-year budget cycles. In 2015, extra time was spent on the two-year operating budget covering 2015-’16 through 2016-’17. In 2016, we focused on the $32 million capital improvement budget covering 2016-’17 through 2017-’18. This two-year cycle allows City Council, staff and community more time to focus on each of the budget components. We approved a modest capital budget using funds available, including state or federal grants that are restricted in how and where they can be used. The City Council has adopted priority focus areas for the budget: long-term financial stability, economic development, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, organizational strength and employee success. The operating budget, approved at $91 million, had some minor midcycle adjustments. Increased planning and building activity
Photo by Aaron Okayama
CONCORD’S MARIYA KOROLEVA (LEFT) AND HER PARTNER ANITA ALVAREZ FROM NEW YORK will be representing the United States at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro synchronized swimming duet competition Aug. 14-16 in the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre, which is an outdoor venue opened in 2007 to host the Pan American Games. In the same pool Aug. 15-16, diver Kristian Ipsen (left in photo on right) will compete in the 3-meter springboard competition. The De La Salle High and Stanford University grad will be joined on the American 3M team by Michael Hixon (far right).
New partner in Rio for Concord’s Koroleva JAY BEDECARRÉ Concord Pioneer
Mariya Koroleva will be heading for Rio soon to take part in her second Summer Olympics as half of the American synchronized swimming duet pair and the Concord resident will probably feel being in the Athletes Village and concentrating on her routines with partner Anita Alvarez will be less hectic than the schedule she’s maintained in the past 11 months since she was named to the team by USA Synchro. The duet competition will be held in Rio’s Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre Aug. 14-16 with free routines on the first day and technical routine on the second day before the field is cut down from 24 teams to the top 12 for the free routine medal finals on See Mayor, page 7 Tuesday, Aug. 16.
United States partners Koroleva and Alvarez enjoyed success in international competition earlier this year in China, Germany and France. They won the duet free gold medal at the China Open Synchronized Swimming Championships in April. The duo also won silver in duet tech at the China Open, finishing second to the host team. However their most important result this year was in March when they secured America’s entry in duet with a seventh place at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in the same Rio pool they’ll return to next month. The tech program they will perform at the Olympics is 2:20 in which the duo goes through a series of required elements in a specific order.
See Koroleva, page 13
Watch local Olympians in Rio
NBC is having near wallto-wall coverage of the Olympic Games from Rio Aug. 3-21. Using its stable of broadcast and cable networks NBCUniversal will present 6,755 hours of programming for the Games.
Men’s 3-Meter Diving
Anticipated to be on NBC Monday, Aug. 15, 11:15 a.m. Preliminaries Tuesday, Aug. 16, 10 a.m. Semi-finals Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2 p.m. Medal finals
Synchronized Swimming
Scheduled for USA and NBC Sports Network Sunday, Aug. 14, 7 a.m. Duets Free Routine Monday, Aug. 15, 7 a.m. Duets Technical Routine Tuesday, Aug. 16, 10 a.m. Medal Free Routine finals Information subject to change. Be sure to verify all times and stations. NBCOlympics.com
De La Salle’s Ipsen going solo this time JAY BEDECARRÉ Concord Pioneer
He’s not a Stanford freshman just a year out of De La Salle High like he was in 2012 when as a 19-year-old he went to the London Olympics. Globetrotting Kristian Ipsen is now one of the veterans on the United States Olympic diving team for the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro prepping for his event Aug. 14-15. Ipsen won a bronze medal in the three-meter synchronized event four years ago with partner Troy Dumais who was taking part in his fourth Olympics. Ipsen and Dumais lost out on a chance to compete again when they finished second at the recent Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. Showing the maturity and experience he’s gained over the
past quadrennial Ipsen, now 23, was able to put aside that disappointment and resultant pressure to have two excellent days and win the Olympic Trials 3M springboard competition. Rather than part of a synchro team as in London, he’ll be competing by himself against the world’s best 3M springboard divers in Rio. The 30 or so competitors will do six dives in the preliminary round Aug. 15. The field will be cut down to the top 18 scores for the semi-finals Aug. 16 and then the top 12 will compete for medals after a short break later that day. Ipsen says he’ll be “more strategic” this year in selecting his six dives, doing a slightly easier list in the prelims just seeking to qualify for the semis. He’ll then do a list of six dives includ-
See Ipsen, page 13
Concord filmmaker ready to shoot second film JEFF MELLINGER Correspondent
Jeff Mosley is staying local for his second movie, “My Advice,” which will be filmed in Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Martinez. Having shot his previous film, “Chasing Rodriguez,” exclusively in Contra Costa County, he plans to make it work again by sticking to a small budget and networking with local businesses. FILMMAKER JEFF MOSLEY (right) goes over the logistics of a shot While it is exciting when a with stuntman Tom Anderson (left) and set builder Mike sweeping shot of the Golden Granelli on location for his first film, “Chasing Rodriguez.” Gate Bridge or Coit Tower
appears on the big screen, San Francisco is an expensive and logistically difficult place to film. Big budget films set in the Bay Area typically film in another city or shoot on a backlot. Mosley says it is easier to film in the Bay Area on a small budget, because big budget films take up massive amounts of room with giant trucks and lots of equipment. “When we filmed ‘Chasing Rodriguez,’ it was like we were invisible,” says Mosley. “Our cars and trucks were only at some locations for half a day,
and no one even noticed.” Norris film “An Eye for an It also helps to get on the Eye” was filming in an alley good side of businesses and below, so Mosley visited the set. the general public. Mosley “The scene I watched was a hopes to get product placement deals before filming, as See Mosley, page 5 well as vendor and business donations for things like meals. He expects to shoot at Centre Inside Concord and Clayton Bowl. “We carefully mapped out Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . .15 our locations and made sure we Community . . . . . . . . . . .2 had the proper permits,” he From the desk of . . . . . .7 added. Born in San Francisco, Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Mosley went to visit his cousin Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 at the San Francisco Chronicle Performing Arts . . . . . .17 in the early 1980s. The Chuck