Go to our website for these great stories: • County lauds Clayton treatment center’s efforts during fire • Pulse of Concord: On a local level, residents seem to have more in common • Movie Review: ‘Borat 2’ exposes Americans’ stupidity • Making your home warm & cozy starts with the fireplace • Centuries of development led to modern meteorology
From dogs to desks in days November 13, 2020
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Clayton man called ‘an angel’ for outfitting remote learners with free home work spaces DAVID SCHOLZ Correspondent
Tamara Steiner/The Pioneer
Les Reufenacht does all his woodworking from his home garage in Clayton, The 80-year-old grandfather is turning out about 20 small desks per day to donate to kids who need study space in their homes.
Les Ruefenacht didn’t let the coronavirus dampen his creative woodworking juices. The Clayton resident just shifted gears and started building something else that could help someone. His new venture is all about crafting efficient desks for local school children who are learning remotely as the pandemic persists with no end in sight. His endeavor couldn’t have come at a better time for Mt. Diablo Unified School District parents – the target audience – who have quickly flooded him with requests. “I had no idea if people would be interested in this,” Ruefenacht said. It started with a nudge from his wife Sandra, who saw
a story on the ABC national news about a Maryland man and encouraged him to investigate it. “You can build anything. You need to do that,” she said. Within 48 hours of launching this one-man show, Ruefenacht had fashioned a prototype, had 10 desks in various stages of completion and had received more than 100 inquiries for the free desks as word went out on social media. Before this, the 80-year-old had been using his spare time creating hundreds of small wooden “Buddy Dog” toys. These were destined for children with cancer and chronic illnesses receiving care at California hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses. However, COVID-19 put that project on hold. Instead, Ruefenacht will continue to make the little dogs in honor of first responders. Each dog will have the name of a first responder in place of “Buddy” painted on the side.
See Desks, page 3
Local races settled; Measure V passes pending final count TAMARA STEINER The Pioneer
Reflecting the intensity of the 2020 presidential election, Contra Costa voters turned out at an enthusiastic 72 percent. At press time, all Concord and Clayton precincts had reported results withstill a few votes remaining to be counted. In Clayton, six candidates vied for three open seats on the city council with incumbent Jim Diaz leading the field. After a brutal, high-octane campaign bitterly fought over a high density housing project in the town center (see story this page), just 44 votes separated Diaz and planning commissioner Peter Cloven. “I’m looking to move beyond the huge divide caused by the caustic campaigning of this cycle,” Cloven told the Pioneer. “It has inpacted me and my family personally. We are better than this as a city.”
What’s Inside Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Directory of Advertisers . . . .7 From the Desk of . . . . . . . . .6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
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Dec. 11, Deadline, Nov. 30
CARLYN OBRINGER
EDI BIRSAN
JIM DIAZ
PETER CLOVEN
HOLLY TILLMAN
Community leader Holly Tillman will fill the third seat. Tillman says she is proud of running a clean campaign and echoed Cloven’s hope for a change in tone. Diaz was waiting for all the official results to be in before commenting beyond saying he was looking forward to working with the new council. Current councilmember and former mayor Tuija Cata-
lano took the brunt of the vitrolic campaign. She ended in fourth and will not be returning to the council. Frank Gavidia and Glenn Miller trailed each with about 14 percent of the vote. In Concord’s District 2 council race. incumbent Carlyn Obringer easily won over Progressive Hope Johnson and perennial candidate Harmesh Kumar who, undaunted by four
previous losses, was making his fifth run at a council seat. Obringer garnered 45 percent of the votes, Johnson 25 percent and Kumar 16 percent in the first District 2 election since the city converted to district elections in 2018. Obringer mounted a well organized, well financed campaign structered around housing, business recovery and a new vision for development of
the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Johnson, who ran an energetic grassroots campaign with an army of committed volunteers was understandbly disappointed in the results. Johnson has continually called Obringer to task over the failure of the CNWS development to move forward last March and the city’s lack of support for the homeless and
tenants facing evictions. Newcomers to city politics Tristan Piper and Paul Wood split the remaining 15 percent. Despite coming in last, Wood plans to stay engaged. “The city council run was just the beginning of getting involved and getting my hands dirty in making Concord a better place,” he told the Pioneer.
development across the street, claims the city was wrong to approve the three-building, three-story complex because it’s too big and intrusive and will impact their privacy and quality of life. The case, which has created bitter division in the community, is a vivid example of what happens when the desires of residents collide with state laws that mandate more housing and bigger projects than locals want. To meet Contra Costa County housing requirements, the City Council rezoned the 3.3 acres at the corner of High Street and Marsh Creek Road in 2011. The move changed it from
of units from 60 to 81 in exchange for designating seven units “affordable.” Jordan was further entitled to several concessions that opponents said would create hazardous traffic and parking issues. The City Council was faced with approving a project that none “liked” but was in full compliance with the law – amid Clayton residents sued the city and the developer hoping to vehement community opposistop the three-building, three-story Olivia project in down- tion. Mayor Julie Pierce and council members Tuija Catalano town Clayton. In his decision rendered Oct. 30, Superior Court judge Edward Weil denied the petitioners and ruled and CW Wolfe could find no 100 percent in the city’s favor. legal grounds to deny the application. They followed the advice But under California’s Densi- of the city attorney and voted to rural/agricultural to multi-family high-density, which calls for 20 ty Bonus Law, Jordan was units per acre. allowed to increase the number See Olivia, page 5
See Election, page 5
State mandated high density housing laws collide with residents desires to maintain local control TAMARA STEINER The Pioneer
A lawsuit by residents opposed to the Olivia, an 81-unit downtown apartment complex hit the rocks Oct. 30, when Contra Costa Superior Court judge Edward Weil ruled the city acted properly in approving the project. Some residents have called the three-acre project “behemoth” and “out of character” for the small town, and Clayton for Responsible Government sued the city and developer William Jordan on April 9. The group, comprised mainly of neighbors in the Stranahan
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