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Vol. 27, No. 21
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May 23, 2025
Brentwood earmarks Liberty High School hosts Special grant funds for events Olympics track and field event 14 of 18 on city’s list get money By Jake Menez Staff Writer
Brentwood residents may soon be able to look forward to a number of events, both returning favorites and new ones, following the Land Use and Development Committee meeting on May 19. The committee — made up of Vice Mayor Pa’tanisha Pierson, Councilmember Jovita Mendoza and Planning Chairperson Rod Flohr — made a recommendation of how to award economic development grants to a number of applicants. The City Council will vote on the item next month. Returning applicants included Brentwood on Ice, Oktoberfest and the Brentwood Business Expo while new applicants included a Father’s Day sports tournament and Novacon, a convention for anime fans.
“We received more than double the amount [of money] requested than what the city has available,” Economic Development manager Ricardo Noguera told the committee at the start of the discussion. “Eight of the 18 proposals are from new applicants…we have a very diverse mix of applications.” The total requested funding for all the projects was $383,714 but the city has roughly $180,000 available, according to city staff. This is an increase from the roughly $140,000 the city awarded last year. The program was established in 2004 and gets its money from business licenses. Business owners are taxed annually by the city based on “business type and their gross receipts” as part of their licensing with 20% of that revenue set aside for the grant program. As part of the decision-making process, the committee used a rubric to score each applicant based on a number of factors, including whether the program
Photo by Isaac Arriaga
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iberty High School hosted the track and field Special Olympics meet on May 20 when 550 special-needs students from 55 different classes ranging from kindergarten to transitional classes, up to age 21, competed in races, turbo javelin throws, softball throws, and standing long jumps. “All the kids like to do everything,” said Contra Costa County Special Olympics School Partnership Program Coordinator Sheri Roberti. “It’s a big day for them. A lot of times they don’t get to get out that much and this provides a lot of opportunity to learn about sports and meet your peers, and meet gen ed (general education) students.”Liberty High School students volunteered to help the competitors prepare for their events and pass out refreshments to those who competed.
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Heritage junior joins anti-drug crusade By Sean Tongson Correspondent
A Brentwood high school student is advocating against drug and tobacco use amongst youth by raising awareness about its dangers and side effects. CourAGE is countywide, youth-led advocacy program as part of the Contra Costa Office of Education where students in grades 8-12 play a leadership role in special projects, including community-level advocacy, conference workshops, and countywide contests, while also working with other counties. Established in 2013, the goal of CourAGE is to help and address tobacco and other substance-related issues amongst youth, according to the Contra Costa Office of Education website. “Today, youths are using drugs more often and it’s becoming a more common sight at many schools,” said Heritage junior and CourAGE peer educator Calendar.............................................. 15 Classifieds........................................... 17
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Larry Ly, one of two Heritage students, along with Gael Estrella Tanda involved in the program. “I can personally attest to this common sight as all of the bathrooms at my school would have students smoking in them most of the time. We provide education to our fellow students and children and work for the benefit
of those around us.” While statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the use of any tobacco product decreased from 12.6 to 10.1 percent amongst high school students from 2023 to 2024, e-cigarettes remain the most commonly-used tobacco product amongst U.S. youths. According to Ly, the use of vapes and tobacco products are becoming more normal in youth culture, which he says is driving more people to use drugs because they see everyone else around them using them. Ly said there is a growing concern with many risks factors associated with smoking and drug use, such as early-age dependency, lung cancer, along with effects on the brain such as “impaired brain development as the brain is still developing until the mid 20s, Ly said. “Youth minds are more susceptible to the negative effects of smoking and drugs. Smoking and especially nicotine slow down the
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