Contra Costa’s Marijuana Tax Passes
On Tuesday, voters of Contra Costa County approved Measure R – which provides for the taxation of marijuana businesses similar to those businesses engaged in the sale of alcohol and tobacco. Measure R passed with 71.73% support (158,898 votes) to 28.27% who opposed (62,623 votes). Voters said the county should be able to impose a…
Regional Early Voting Program Underway Thursday
Just a quick reminder that Contra Costa Elections Division’s Regional Early Voting program starts this morning. This is a good opportunity for residents who missed the Voter Registration Deadline to conditionally register and vote on the same day, or beat the rush of having to make it to their local polling place on Election Day.…
Firearm Storage Ordinance Adopted In Orinda
Securely storing firearms when not in use is an essential element of responsible gun ownership and the #1 way to help prevent firearm accidents, theft, and misuse. To this effect, the Orinda City Council voted unanimously on October 16, 2018 to approve a safe storage ordinance requiring that “except when carried on his or her…
Lafayette City Manager Steven Falk Announces Resignation Monday
Lafayette City Manager Steven Falk announced his resignation at a City Council meeting Monday night. In a brief farewell note he wrote: Friends, colleagues, co-workers— There’s a country music lyric for everything so, to quote the late Hank Snow, “I’m movin’ on!” At the beginning of this evening’s City Council meeting I announced that: It…
One Opioid Fatality Per Week In Contra Costa County In 2016 – Supervisors Promise Litigation Against Manufacturers/Distributors
At yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, it was announced that Contra Costa County plans to join a consortium of more than 25 California counties, as well as hundreds of other municipalities throughout the United States, to initiate litigation against the drug manufacturers and distributors responsible for the opioid epidemic that has destroyed so many lives…
Lafayette’s Planning Commission Gutted After Council Adopts New Conflict Of Interest Policy
A Lafayette City Council vote adopting a revised conflict of interest policy for Planning and Design Review Commissioners triggered the mass resignation of five of seven serving planning commissioners this week – making it impossible for the commission to achieve a quorum and leaving the city scrambling for a way to field a replacing body.…
Owner Of Lafayette’s Cross Hill Offers A Chunk Of The Local Landmark To The City – As A Park
A sizable portion of the landmark hill bearing homemade crosses and the names of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan could become Lafayette’s newest parkland if a deal proposed by the landowner comes to pass. Owner Charles Clark wrote the city council Sept. 7 and proposed that 2.6 acres of his family’s 5-acre parcel…
Contra Costa’s Top Prosecutor Resigns; Pleads No Contest To Single Perjury Charge
In one swift move Contra Costa County’s top prosecutor resigned his post after agreeing to plead no contest to a single count of perjury – all part of a plea arrangement struck as the State Attorney General moved to prosecute him for diverting $66,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. Hours after State…
Walnut Creek Says “No” To Pot Legalization; Citizens Scratch Their Heads – And Blaze Up
The vote for legalized recreational marijuana use may have already been cast in California and elsewhere in the court of public opinion, but Walnut Creek city officials and police agencies aren’t so sure – pointing to problems that have popped up in cities where legal restrictions have been relaxed. The City Council opted to state…
New Fight Looming For Moraga’s Contentious City Ventures Project
Questions about the City Ventures project along Moraga way began almost as soon as the story poles marking the project’s proposed roof lines and construction footprint went up alongside Station 41. And a new fight appears to be brewing as the Moraga planning commission appears evenly divided on the issue and the future of the…