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…
Orinda Council Studying Possible Future Requirements For Short-Term Rentals
Bloodied when a short-term rental scenario went wrong with tragic results in February, Orinda’s city council has spent the interim period tinkering with ideas to safeguard homeowner, renters – and the city – in future. Mayor Victoria Smith asked city staff to canvass surrounding cities and towns for their approaches to the short-term rental market, popularized by sites…
Moraga’s Great Depression – Making More Holes To Fix The Big One At Rheem Center
A joke making the rounds around Moraga these days has town leaders seeking a new motto for the town seal at a town meeting, the motto drawn from some frequently seen local landmark. A hand at the back of the room raises and the resident is recognized, the resident offering: “Road Work Ahead?” Call it…
Orinda Council Studies Short-Term Lease Agreements After Camino Encinas Violence
Stunned by the beating of a Florida man attacked during a party at an Orinda home rented through Airbnb, the city council is taking a hard look at so-called “transient” housing arrangements, and evaluating how they should be handled in future. The council, spurred by Mayor Victoria Smith, queried adjacent cities and towns after the 21-year-old…
From “Train Wreck” To Legal Lightning Rod; Lafayette’s Terraces Get A Green Light
Re-drafted and re-released under a new name and softened new look after it was peppered by criticism both public and architectural, the bloodied “Terraces” project – now known as the Homes at Deer Hill – finally met with approval from the Lafayette city council last Monday. The unanimous decision – with Vice Mayor Traci Reilly recusing herself after lending her signature…