YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ward Winning News al A pa
Vol. 9, No. 13
Including Surrounding Communities
www.oakleypress.com
More low-income housing coming by Dave Roberts Staff Writer
More low-income housing – this time for the poorest of the poor – may be coming to Carol Lane in a four-story apartment complex already filling up with low-income residents. In response to a state affordable-housing mandate, an unhappy City Council agreed Tuesday night to work with the Corporation for Better Housing (CBH) to add 88 more apartments for “extremely low-income” residents (equating to a family of four earning anywhere from zero to $27,000 per year) in the Commons at Oak Grove complex behind the Raley’s shopping center. So far, 316 apartments in six buildings (dubbed “the towers” by some city officials) have been built on the 18-acre site. CBH is planning to construct two more four-story buildings containing 88 apartments on the site, perhaps beginning this fall. In the next year, city officials will be working with CBH to con-
struct an additional 88 apartments reserved for those with extremely low incomes. That would bring the total number of low-income apartments to 492 in what has become a towering urban enclave in mostly suburban Oakley. Although 167 notices were sent out to people living near the apartment complex, the council chambers were nearly empty when the issue was discussed, and only one nearby resident spoke against adding more low-income apartments to the site. “I would like to request that you do whatever it takes to not allow any more units on that property,” said Cathy Summers, who lives on Windsor Court. “I live right behind it and have noticed a negative impact. I walked my dogs late at night and am now afraid to do that. It’s because a certain element has moved into the area. It’s also impacted traffic.” Police Chief Chris Thorsen told the council that there have been a number of police calls to the complex since it opened but not enough to justify charging
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Get the jump on spring
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Photo by Dave Roberts
More affordable apartment buildings will be built in the Commons at Oak Grove complex on Carol Lane, some of which may be reserved for people with extremely low incomes. CBH for excessive demands on police time. “I’m not the guy who’s going to champion the cause for affordable housing in a community that I have to police,” he said. “That said, so far it’s gone well.” City officials aren’t happy
by Rick Lemyre Staff Writer
Photo by Stacey Chance/DiscoveryBayStudios.com
Downtown Knightsen awakens one recent weekend morning. Proponents hope to keep the hamlet small and rural. to file outside and inspect a new fire engine. In front of an attentive but mostly silent audience, the MAC talked briefly about meeting space, park dedication
March 27, 2009
From red-hot rods to high-tech orange tires, our Spring Auto Care Guide will put you in the fast lane.
about the state housing mandate. Former Planning Commissioner Don Scheer compared it to the dictates in the old Soviet Union and urged the council to stand up see Housing page 17A
Time marches on in far East County This is the third and final installment of a three-part series on the efforts of two far East County towns to retain their heritage and remain rural and small in the face of regional growth and changing local politics. For a look at parts one and two, log on to thepress.net. The meetings could not have been much more different. In Byron, the new Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) members – Linnea Juarez, Al Beltran, Don Della Nina, Ron Schmit and Dennis Lopez – quickly appointed Juarez chair and Beltran vice chair. They got a rundown on county business from District III Supervisor Mary Nejedly Piepho, reports from police and the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, and stopped the meeting briefly
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fees, code enforcement and the Brown Act, and was done. Six days later and a few miles away, the new Knightsen Town Advisory Council (KTAC) mem-
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bers – Linda Weeks, Jack Burge, Chantel Tieman and Mike Walko (one seat remains unfilled) – picked Weeks as chair and Walko as vice chair. The agency reports and updates from Piepho ran about the same, but the crowd of about 100 was anything but sedentary. Before the evening ended, there were arguments, complaints, loud voices and an impromptu, nearunanimous show-of-hands vote to return things to the way they had been. Occasionally, shouts ricocheted around the room like shrapnel, but in the end, Roberts Rules of Order – and Weeks’ rubber mallet gavel – contained the passion, and business got done.
Battle of the boundaries It was one particular piece of business that had packed both see Time page 12A
No dry eyes for cleaner An Oakley institution is closing its doors after three decades of spotless service.
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Falcons fall in extra innings
Two tough teams pushed a thrilling game into overtime – but the Patriots pushed a little harder.
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INSIDE Business ...........................16A Calendar ..........................19B Classifieds ........................13B Entertainment .................. 9B Food .................................10B Health & Beauty .............19A Milestones ......................... 8B Opinion ...........................14A Sports ...............................21A Spring Auto Care Guide .. 1B
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