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Home My WebLink About10/28/2011OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER OctobE TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Alan Tandy, City Manager ,A�ch SUBJECT: Generallnformation Please Note: If you are viewing the document online, you can click underlined words throughout the text which will take you direct� background files referenced for each applicable topic. Miscellaneous News • City in the Hills Park officially opened to the public on Wedne judging by the turnout - it will be a valuable asset to the communil thanks go to the residents of the area, as this park took collaborai over many years to complete. Please see the enclosed pictures ceremony. • Good news! We received a letter this week from the Department < and Community Development notifying the City it has received � the amount of $432,450. The grant is part of the Housing Relc Program which promotes creation of new parks and rehabi improvements to existing parks. By building new low income hou the City becomes eligible for this grant - none of which would b without the hard work of Donna Kunz and the EDCD staff. • We received very good feedback the producers of the Circus a on Ice events which were recently held at Rabobank Arena. The c attendance for both was more than 60,000 people! Hiqh Speed Rail News ■ Bakersfield was the focus of an article in last weekend's Los Ang addressing the ongoing concerns with the proposed High Speed I Honorable Mayor and City Counci General Information October 28, 201 1 Page 2 Event Schedule There are multiple public events scheduled for the next week at City facil ✓ Riverdance Nov. 1 St; 7:30 p.m. Rabobank Theater Tickets: $30 - $60 ✓ So You Think You Can Dance Nov. 1 St; 7:00 p.m. Rabobank Arena Tickets: $38.50 - $58.50 ✓ Professional Bull Riders Tourina Pro Series Nov. 4& 5th; 7:30 p.m. Rabobank Arena Tickets: $15-$60 Council Referrals � Councilmember Couch: o Ward Boundaries Reports For your information, we enclose the following information: ➢ The Streets Division work schedule for the week beginning Octobe AT:ch cc: Department Heads Roberta Gafford, City Clerk City in the Hills Park Opening � � �_ - : . -- - , _ _ __� �_ � T ,� .� ,�� i � r � � � �� r--. � " , ��'1 � ,��.d ;. , . , � ' ' .- e' „ � - ,��, � , I � r u , I, "F � 1 .s � � � -:� : w . �;� �.° �� . __ .;�, t �x � �� f- �� 10/26/11 , -.� �r-�" --�■ �..,.� _ , . � �� -� �--- � - i ' �� ` � _ ' Ar"'I i'�--� , � � _- _ � � 1 �� _. �_� �:.:, ��i� ?,�� -u `;! � n 9� �I . "'�il� r` � i t.� p�� .> + . .y! I w y� Y � 1 _'/ � � ` y�",� AcM� �. j . ` i' t� � � e�• 3. �t�.�J_ A d.w. . _ i r� �•'.�.� �, I � � . ' � � n� av, � �� '�I �c,�� , ��l1 ��r YI K' � `•� ¢1`w�� F� `��R� r � ,�< •� . '\ �.r,�, y � —� �''' � �`._ ... #p ,. '�.,}i � � �,4_ �- � ..,.-•�, �. M �- ,� � ,, �, � � � � � F' � � "�a N_�Jr� � i , . . � .. . �rr�� , , � ��-� � . _�_ � - � �'r. -� � � _. � � . , ��. ,,_. , ., �ity in the Hills Park f 1� � '�� _Y , ,. City of Bakeisfield �- _ - , . STATE OF CALIFORNIA -BUSINESS, TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING AGENCY EDMUND DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION OF HOUSING POLICY DEVELOPMENT 1800 Third Street, Suite 430 P. O. Box 952053 Sacramento, CA 94252-2053 (916) 323-3177 / FAX (916) 327-2643 www. hcd. ca. aov October 24, 2011 Mr. Alan Tandy City Manager City of Bakersfield 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Ste 300 Bakersfield, CA 93301 Dear Mr. Tandy: The Department is pleased to announce the City of Bakersfield as a recipient of a Housing Related Parks (HRP) Program award. Funding for the HRP Program is available pursuant to the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006 (Proposition IC). The goal of the HRP Program is to encourage and incentivize nE housing affordable to lower-income households and reward local governments for approving housing projects affordable to lower-income households and the workfc The HRP Program reflects the Department's c�ommitment to work in partnership w local governments to address California's critical housing and community develop� needs, recognizing and reinforcing the critical linkages between housing, jobs, anc economy in creating vital, livable communities. As you know, all local government applicants with housing starts for new rental or ownership housing units affordable to lower-income households and which are in compliance with State housing element law, are awarded HRP Program grant fun� use in local capital improvement park-related projects. Your application indicated City of Bakersfield met the program requirements and has implemented the objeci of the HRP Program. This letter, therefore, constitutes a conditional commitment � grant funds in the amount of $432450. Staff will be contacting you shortly to initiate the process of preparing the Standarc Agreement for fund distribution. Please note, no funds may be expended, nor an� incurred, until a contract is fully executed. Again, congratulations on meeting the � of the HRP Program. For further information concerning this award, please conta� James Johnson at jjohnson@hcd.ca.gov or (916) 323-7271. Cinr+crol�i s California bullet train: The high price of speed - latimes.com http://wwwlatimes. com/news/local/la-me-bi latimes.com/news/1oca1/1a-me-bullet-train-20111023,0,2248881.story latimes.com California bullet train: The high price of speed Its proposed route would destroy churches, schools, homes, warehouses, ba offices, stores and much more. By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times 6:03 PM PDT, October 22, 2011 Reporting from Bakersfield Since it opened in 1893, Bakersfield High School has been the pride of this city and its academic cornerstone, the place where the late Chief Justice Earl Warren graduated and students call themselves the Drillers in homage to the region's oil patch. It has withstood earthquakes and depressions, but perhaps it will not survive the California bullet train. The train's proposed routes are taking aim at the campus, potentially putting a bulls-eye on the Industrial Arts Building, where future engineers, ceramic artists, auto advertisement mechanics, fabric designers and wood-workers take classes. Even though freight trains already lumber not far from the campus, these elevated trains could rocket by on a viaduct at up to 220 mph every five minut� with the school library and deafening the stately outdoor commons where students congregat� classes. "Obviously we can't have a school with a high-speed rail going over the top of the building," David Reese. "What kind of distraction would that cause our students?" The California High Speed Rail Authority, the agency trying to build the bullet train, couldn't more politically sensitive target. The school is where House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy California bullet train: The high price of speed - latimes.com http://wwwlatimes. com/news/local/la-me-bi Although the potential for such disruption was understood in general terms when the project 1 ago, the reality is only now beginning to sink in. The potential economic, cultural and political damage may be an omen. The Central Valley, v construction could start next year, is expected to be the politically easiest and lowest-cost seg system, designed to move millions of passengers between Southern California and the Bay A project's effects could be even greater in more populous places like Silicon Valley, Orange Cc San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles. "It is possible to do a high-speed rail project, but you have to be very artful about it, and the a been anything but artful," said state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), chairman of the Senate � subcommittee. "The level of trust at the beginning was pretty low, and it has only gotten wor: of the state do not believe they are being listened to." For years the train's path was somewhat vague, but in August the authority released 70,000 p; environmental impact reports that detail potential routes through the Central Valley. Authority officials say they have made every effort to work with people who could be displac minimize its effects. Rail authority chairman Tom Umberg says a high-speed rail will improv life in California, not reduce it. Proponents say the benefits are overwhelmingly positive. "The net gain in jobs is pretty significant," said Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a big sup� But her own City Council was stunned when members learned recently that hundreds of busi� shut down along the 16 miles of rail through town, according to Scott Mozier, the city's assist works director. More than a mile-long segment of California 99, the major freeway serving the farm belt, wo moved about 100 feet and three exits would have to be closed. In Kings County, a processing handles about a quarter of a million pounds of dairy cow carcasses would be bisected by the � Andreoli, chief executive of Baker Commodities, owner of the plant. Shutting down for even would leave a mountain of carcasses. Almost every city and county along the proposed route loses something, but none more than : More than 228 homes and more than a half dozen churches would be taken, many of them in minority communities on the city's east side. The rail authority's plans have both homeowner, government agencies confused. In formal comments submitted this month to the authority, Bakersfield officials called the pla and unstable." What's more, the authoritv was bein� "clearlv unreasonable" in initiallv allowi California bullet train: The high price of speed - latimes.com http://wwwlatimes. com/news/local/la-me-bi "This area is in decline," said Pastor Mark Harrison. "We have a failing economy. There is a l here. There is graffiti everywhere. We are overrun with gangs. It is a violent area at night. If � hopelessness, look at the youth in this area. We like to think of our church as standing for hoX Not far from the Baptist church, the bullet train could take aim at a window of the Full Gospe Church, said Pentecostal pastor Todd Matthews. When he received a note warning him about destruction of his church, he put the paper in his shoe, invoking biblical scripture to destroy t� under the feet of God. "We distribute food and blankets to the homeless at Martin Luther King Park across the stree� Matthews, who worked in the Kern County oil fields for 29 years. "This property is our prom they offered us $10 million, we would not take it." About a decade ago, the rail authority asked Bakersfield officials where they wanted a high-s station, and civic leaders envisioned a downtown depot that would attract residential develop city planning director Jim Eggert. What they did not imagine was a viaduct elevated 80 feet over the city and a 5,000-car parkir dominating the city center, he said. Acoustic experts have also warned that the rail authority i underestimating how loud the trains will be. "The rail will be too noisy for people to want to live around," he said. "Now that we know w� are, maybe we should have considered a bypass outside of town." An attractive new downtown residential development along a canal, City Place, is in the train said. The development is so new that the authority's environmental report did not count its 20 units in the city's impact report. Now, opposition is widespread across town. When the City Council was considering endorsing the bullet train, some 500 students and alu Bakersfield High showed up to protest. The council backed off, recalled Reese, the school's p Either Bakersfield route would cause problems at the school, Reese said. He noted that under education code, school systems are not allowed to build new campuses within 1,500 feet of a there is no para11e1 regulation that prevents the building of a railline near a school. "Safety is always my first issue," Reese added. "The rail authority argues that there has never hi�h-speed derailment. Well, since thev said that, there has been a derailment in China," a ref California bullet train: The high price of speed - latimes.com http://wwwlatimes. com/news/local/la-me-bi a farmer. "The answer is they will screw you too when it comes to your neighborhood." �al�h. va�tabedian(c�latimes. com Copyright �O 2011, Los Angeles Times www.kansascity.com � 10/22/20ll � Commentary: A high-speed train to ... http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/22/v-pri ��I� � � ��'� ga� � � Posted on Sat, Oct. 22, 2011 Commentary: A high-5peed train to nowhere? Dan Walters The Sacramento Bee When the Obama administration gave California several billion dollars for its proposed high-speed rail year, it attached an odd string. The money had to be spent, the feds said, on a relatively short stretch in the San Joaquin Valley. Why? The official explanation was that it would be the easiest and cheapest segment of a statewide s� a demonstration and test track, and could be used for ordinary train service if nothing else happens. The real reason probably had much to do with building in the congressional district of a longtime bullel Democrat Jim Costa, who faced a tough 2010 re-election, although everyone denies that crass motive The political calculus included an assumption that the transportation-starved and economically depres would embrace the project — a supposition that's proven to be very shaky, especially among farmers v� their land. The High-Speed Rail Authority, however, is determined to get that $6 billion segment built, hoping it wi money, possibly some federally subsidized bonds if no more direct federal money is forthcoming, to cc the system into something on which high-speed trains could actually operate, perhaps between San J� Bakersfield. A new HSRA report to the Legislature — a preview to its revised "business plan" next month — implies t an operational section without the much-vaunted participation of private or foreign government investc Previously, the commission had said that outside investors, who it hoped would provide the tens of bill for the system, would probably require "revenue guarantees," which official and private critics said im� subsidies that state law prohibits. The Legislature demanded, as a condition of allocating more money, that the commission explain how guarantees" could be granted without violating the law. The commission's new report says, in effect, tr segment will be so popular — a"proven track record" — that investors will be eager to pony up, so no rE guarantees are needed. But would running trains between San Jose and Bakersfield show a profit big enough to attract investc credibility depends on ridership projections, one of the most controversial pieces of the project's puzzl� included in the new business plan. The report lends credence to the suspicion that the strategy is to lay some track as soon as possible � moral-political commitment to building the whole system. It smacks of a"Field of Dreams" approach — build it and they will come. But it could be folly to spend � really afford on what could be a train to nowhere. � �� i �� " ' i '; ��r ��', �Qi i � � ,,. � ; x ,� . .. �. , �, ��. � �� R �► _ � • : � � » : � � � rir � ;, . � � Y€�� iV��V'�� J�.d�.�� i��}��'� �i i�i ��@SS�` i�4i 31�.�fi��j� i�} ��i��3`�i� ��:i ��}dil ki��J�� `J i�� \E44��i~i.� Fi�.✓.1 i�a• 9WS�V��i� I�.J ai i��i,�� 1�� 4Af i� ��i..l��S�lA� �kiV��Bi3�«.."� i��4�. 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Paqe 1 of 2 STREETS DIVISION — WORK SCHEDULE Week of Oct. 31, 2011 — Nov. 4, 2011 Resurfacinq/Reconstructinq streets in the followinq areas: Sealing streets in the area between New Stine & Wible Rd north of Wilson Rd Grinding & ResurFacing Streets in the area north of 21St St between "B" St & Elm St Blade Sealing in the area north of Brundage between "H" St and Chester Ave also be1 and Oleander (CDBG funded area) Resurfacing Streets in the area east of Beale Ave & north of NiIE Miscellaneous Streets Division projects: Video inspection of City owned Sewer & Storm lines to evaluate condition of pipes Repairing Curb & Gutters at Bus Stops in various areas Grading at Sports Village for a temporary parking lot THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Paqe 2 of 2 STREETS SWEEPING SCHEDULE Monday, Oct. 31, 2011 All sweepers are assigned to sweeping streets that are not on a set sweeping schedu Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 Between California Ave. & Brundage Ln. — Oak St. & Union Ave. Between Renfro Rd. & Jenkins Rd. — Stockdale Hwy. & Kern River Boundary. Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 Between Panorama Dr. & Bernard St. -- Union Ave. & Loma Linda Dr. Between River Blvd. & E. Columbus St. — Panorama Dr. & Columbus St. Between College Ave. & Azalea Ave. — Mountain Dr. & Raval St. Between Ming Ave. & White Ln. — Allen Rd. & Buena Vista Rd. Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 City areas between Kentucky St. & Quincy St. — Owens St. & Virginia St. Between Union Ave. & Washington St. — E. Truxtun Ave. & Brundage Ln. Between Progress Rd. & Old River Rd. — Panama Ln. & Pacheco Rd. (alignment) City areas between Progress Rd. & Old River Rd. — Meadow Falls Dr. & Rose Creek I Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 Between Buena Vista Rd. & Allen Rd. — Harris Rd. & Panama Ln. Between Buena Vista Rd. & Mountain Vista Dr. — Panama Ln. & Birkshire Rd. Between 178 Hwy. & Paladino Dr. — W. Columbus St. & Morning Dr. City areas between Sterling Rd. & Morning Dr. — 178 Hwy. & College Ave. Between Valley St. & Lene PI. -- !78 Hwy & Hickory Dr. Between 178 Hwy. & Reynard Rd. — Kern Canyon Rd. & McKenna St. Between Stockdale Hwy. & Joseph Dr. — McDonald Wy. & N. Stine Rd.