PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA PERMIT 190
IT’S YOUR PAPER www.claytonpioneer.com
November 4, 2005
925.672.0500
Clayton Pioneer urges YES vote on Measure M To plant, or not to plant. To water, or not to water. To weed, or not to weed. Those are the questions facing Clayton voters on Nov. 8 when they go to the polls to pass judgment on renewing the Landscape Maintenance District. We ask you to vote Yes on this important measure. Here’s why: Landscape Maintenance District is the ONLY way to fund landscape maintenance. A Yes vote will renew the District for 15 years and raise the current annual assessment to $365 from $125. Should the
measure be defeated and the District allowed to sunset in 2007, there will be no money, not one dollar, for landscape maintenance in our city. The city’s total operating budget is $3.4 million. Nearly half (47 percent) of this or $1.6 million goes to the police department, leaving only $1.8 million for all other city operations. The yearly cost of landscape maintenance at even today’s inadequate levels is $579,000. There isn’t an extra $5 for a latte in the city budget, let alone $579,000. Make no mistake, if the
District is allowed to expire, the city shuts off the water, mothballs the hedge trimmers and scraps plans for the downtown park. Landscape Maintenance District money can’t be used for anything else. Special benefit district money is off limits to looting by the state pirates. Every dollar that goes into the District goes into Clayton dirt with 100 percent efficiency. Unlike state and federal tax money that seems to vaporize on contact with the bureaucrats, Landscape Maintenance money stays right
here in our front yard with every dollar monitored by a citizen’s watchdog committee. We get a park. There’s enough Redevelopment and other restricted money in the bank right now to build the park. But, there won’t be a park until there is a source of funds for operation and maintenance. Downtown Clayton is on the cusp of a Renaissance. The Village Market remodel has the approval of the Planning Commission. Construction, which will add a deli to the original store, is ready to begin.
There are plans for a two-story retail and office building at the corner of Oak and Center and for another office building next to Children’s World. Long’s Drugs expects to have their new store open at the corner of Clayton Road and Center Street by late next year. A one-acre weed patch smack in the middle of town is an eyesore. Pass Measure M and park construction will begin in January. The fountain runs (with recycled water) every weekend, not just for special events. Measure M is not only a good
thing for Clayton—its passage is vital. As distasteful as tax increases are to all of us, we urge you not to “knee jerk” a no vote on Measure M. This measure is critical to the well being of our town and will find itself almost immediately reflected in home values – one way or the other. The Clayton Business and Community Association voted to support the measure with a 76 percent majority vote. We urge you and your neighbors to VOTE YES ON M. Tamara and Bob Steiner Publishers
Clayton Road speed limit raised to 40 GREGG MANNING
MAYOR’S CORNER Recycling needs to be a high priority This is my penultimate column. My last column as your mayor will be in the Nov. 18 issue. The city council will select a new Mayor on Dec. 6. Look for the new mayor’s column in the Dec. 16 issue of the Pioneer. In the past year, I have touched on many topics but there is one issue that I have yet addressed—one that could have grave consequences for the city. That topic is recycling. The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) sets recycling standards on a statewide basis. Every California jurisdiction must develop an integrated waste management plan. The heart of the plan is the Source Reduction and Recycling Element (SRRE). The objective of the SRRE is to achieve 50 percent solid waste diversion.
See Mayor, page A6
What’s inside SECTION A Around Town . . . . . . . . . .A2 Upcoming Events . . . . . . .A3 Letters to the Editor . . . . .A4 Classifieds and Directory of Advertisers . . . . . . . . . .A5 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . .A7 Your Health . . . . . . . . . . . .A8 So, Anyway . . . . . . . . . . . . .A9 Sharing History . . . . . . . .A11 Just My Opinion . . . . . . . .A12 Tech Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . .A13 Garden Girl . . . . . . . . . . .A14 Food For Thought . . . . . .A15 SECTION B Hiker’s Haven . . . . . . . . . . .B1 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B2 Crossword Puzzle . . . . . . . .B3 Dining Around . . . . . . . . . .B4 Community Calendar . . . . .B5 Holiday Gift Ideas . . . . . . .B6 Pioneer Cookie Contest . . .B8 Paws and Claws . . . . . . . . .B9 Financial Sense . . . . . . . . .B10 Church News . . . . . . . . . .B11 Food For Thought . . . . . .B12 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . . .B12
THE CITY COUNCIL
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
from 25 to 35 mph on Mitchell Canyon Road south of Pine Hollow Road. council at their regular meeting the westerly city limits to The speed limit on any “85th percentile speed,” which on Oct. 18. Oakhurst Drive, but dug in their California road is determined by is determined by a traffic survey Under great protest and with heels at a proposed increase the California Vehicle Code and and is that speed “which is not much gnashing of teeth, the city from 25 to 35 mph on the not by local authorities. The exceeded by 85 percent of the council voted three to two to stretch of Mitchell Canyon CVC requires that, for a speed vehicles in the survey.” Speed raise the speed limit from 35 to Road south of Pine Hollow limit to be enforceable by radar, 40 mph on Clayton Road from Road. it must not be lower than the
IS OPPOSED TO RAISING THE SPEED LIMIT
TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
Speed limit changes to Clayton Road and Mitchell Canyon Road required by state law came under fire by the city
See Speed, page A6
Emergency shelters reach out to the homeless JILL BEDECARRÉ Clayton Pioneer
On any given night in Contra Costa County, there are 7,811 homeless people; 1,184 of them are families and over 2,000 of them are children. These are staggering statistics and all too real for Clayton resident Gloria DeVries. As Support Services Coordinator for Shelter Inc.’s Mountain View House in Martinez and the North Concord Shelter, Gloria experiences first hand the plight of the homeless in our area. Her two emergency shelters are currently full and there are 300 families on the waiting list. “And the weather is getting colder,” she says. A former drug and alcohol
counselor, Gloria thought about retiring after she bought her home in Clayton. And then one day, she received a call from her friend who worked at the Martinez shelter. “Why are you at home, we need you here,” Gloria’s friend told her. Gloria came to the shelter to help her friend and never left. That was eight years ago. She eats, sleeps and breathes the work that she does at the shelter, which goes on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Gloria works with a full-time staff of 8, including 6 or 7 relief staff, 13 families when the shelters are full and volunteer groups. “This is my life,” she says. “We all have big hearts or else we couldn’t do the job. It is often overwhelming because of the need.” And the need is great.
“Homeless people are everywhere,” she explains. They hide under bridges and in parks because they don’t want to be seen.” By the time they arrive at the shelter, their self-esteem is low. “They come broken and we try to pick them up,” Gloria says.” Gloria and her staff give the families positive feedback. “We let them know that they are not the first person to be in this situation.” With the lives of clients so fragile, providing a warm and inviting place that resembles home is crucial and Gloria takes special pride in the shelter’s appearance. “It’s home for these families,” she says. So she works tediously to keep the environment safe and healthy. The industrial-style kitchen and dining room are pristine clean and
very welcoming. Downstairs, where the families live, colorful handpainted murals brighten up the walls.
There are eight rooms and each room has four beds. One large room can accommodate a
See Shelter, page A10
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
MEMBERS OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY CHURCH in Walnut Creek cook and serve dinner at the Martinez shelter.