Your Hometown Web Site www.thepress.net
ward Winning News al A pa
YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 10, No. 8
Retrofit aims to bolster bridge by Dave Roberts Staff Writer
There’s good and bad news concerning the Antioch Bridge. The bad news is that in July it will cost $5 to drive onto the bridge from the Antioch side, versus the current $4. The good news is that following a $300 million seismic retrofit – paid for by your extra toll money – the bridge won’t collapse under you if you’re driving over it during a major earthquake. There’s also good news for construction companies desperate for work during the recession. Several hundred company owners and project managers packed into the VFW Hall in Antioch last week to find out details of the project and networked with the prime contractors bidding on it. Some also walked the 1.8-mile length of the bridge on the catwalk underneath it. But there’s also a bit of bad news for those who enjoy the graceful openness of the bridge design. Three-to-six cross-braces
Staff Writer
Despite several years of recession, rising unemployment and rampant foreclosures, homelessness has been on the decline in the county, including the onein-seven homeless people who come from East County. That was the good news in a report to the Antioch City Council last week by Cynthia Belon, coordinator of the county’s homeless program. In order to qualify for $8 million in annual federal funding for homeless services, the county
Online Now!
February 19, 2010
This Week Small arms, big argument
Store owners and gun owners don’t always agree on Second Amendment rights. Page 4A
Prescription for placidity Photo by Dave Roberts
Antioch resident John Scarborough walks his dogs in the park next to the Antioch Bridge. The bridge will receive a seismic retrofit in the next two years, including red cross braces on its towers. resembling large red X’s will be in the Bay Area. It was designed 6.7-magnitude Northridge earthattached to the inside of the tall- to standards in effect after the quake in 1994, Caltrans impleer columns in the middle of the 6.6-magnitude San Fernando (or mented a seismic retrofit plan for Sylmar) earthquake in 1971. But seven toll bridges, including the bridge. Built in 1978, the Antioch after the 7.1-magnitude Loma see Bridge page 18A Bridge is one of the newer bridges Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the
conducts a one-day count of the homeless population every two years. In 2005 there were more than 7,000 homeless people in the county. By the one-day count in 2007 that number had declined by 38 percent to just over 4,000. In the last census conducted on Jan. 28, 2009 3,830 homeless were identified, representing a further 8 percent decline, according to Belon. While those numbers reflect the number of homeless people in the county counted on a single day, Belon said that about 15,000 see Homeless page 18A
www.thepress.net Your Hometown Web Site
A longtime East County doctor has set his last bone and delivered his last baby. Page 3A
Turning the tables
Homelessness on decline in county by Dave Roberts
rs
Na t
pe
ion
The heavily favored Patriots got cut down to size by the Deer Valley buzz saw. Page 1B
Plus:
Photo by Dave Roberts
Tom Herrington used to live in a homeless encampment near the railroad tracks before Antioch Officer Cliff Rezentes helped raise money to put Herrington on a bus to rejoin his family in Texas.
Open house
go to news/WebExtras! Students and parents sampled a buffet of career and college choices.
Weekly briefing go to news/press releases
New statistics give an inside look at the state of housing in East County.
Calendar ............................ 23B Classifieds ......................... 16B Cop Logs ............................14A Entertainment ................. 12B Health & Beauty .............. 10B Opinion ..............................13A Sports ................................... 1B
Ban on packin’ go to multimedia/videos
Some shops are prohibiting the open carrying of sidearms on premises.