People of Concord, it has been a crazy year both for the Country as well as the City. I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year. Concord doesn't drop any balls so I figured this picture of the New York ball would work. If you read this post and drop your computer at midnight it's almost like being in the Big Apple.

Between the news of murders and recent bank robberies in Concord, I wanted to share with you some news from some people in Concord that have become very aware of the criminal element at the Sun Valley mall. Be aware I was going into Sun Valley mall and this lady chased after me to tell me that my car was getting broken into. As soon as i let my guard down she snatch my purse. They are using these tactics to take advantage of people and rob them. Please be aware of your surrounding and do not believe anyone. Even if they tell you your house is one fire.:) Another citizen had this to add. I was parked at the Sun Valley Mall tonight around 7pm. I had already noticed a suspicious man walking through aisles of parked cars, but proceeded to find a space anyway. While I was unloading my stroller from the trunk, the man passed by my car and then looped around (from the front end) and started back towards me. He was hidden from other people by hiding in between 2 rows of cars now. As he approached me, he began to ask me a question. I held ...

Murder Investigation – Fry Way at Clayton Road, Concord CONCORD, CA (December 29, 2008). The Concord Police Department continues to investigate the shooting death of Sergio Pereda, a 37 year old Concord resident who was shot shortly after 9pm on Christmas night. The shooting occurred on Fry Way between Willow Pass Road and Clayton Road after a brief verbal exchange between Pereda and the occupants of a car travelling South on Fry Way. The suspect vehicle has been described by witnesses as being a 2000 to 2005 BMW 325 two-door or similar appearing vehicle. It is steel blue metallic in color and possibly a convertible with a black top. It may also have after market wheels described as chrome with gold center caps. A similar vehicle is pictured below. The suspect has been described as a Hispanic, Asian or Filipino male, 20 to 25 years of age with “chubby” cheeks and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a black beanie style cap and a dark colored hooded sweat shirt at the time of the shooting. The suspect may speak Spanish but not fluently as though it is not his primary language. A sketch of the suspect is pictured above. Anyone with information about this ...

The City of Concord is shutting down over the holidays. In an attempt to save money, the City of Concord decided it was prudent to close after the new year. "This action is being taken in light of the impact that the recession has had and will continue to have on the City budget,” said City Manager Dan Keen. "The holidays are typically the time of year when the City experiences the least demand for public services, so it makes sense to close." The closure is expected to save the City $300,000 to $500,000. Offices that provide necessary services will remain open. Police patrol, dispatch operations and City inspectors will not be affected by the closure. The Concord Senior Citizens Center, Concord Community Pool, Centre Concord and Willow Pass Community Center will be open as required. Truth is that even though these "necessary services" like the police department are open, they are scaling back. An email to me claimed that CPD is on a skeleton crew. The police department is only open for modified hours and is working with less people. Patrols are still active and if you call the police, someone will answer and be able to help. Now with the City of Concord ...

Concord disposal is picking up your Christmas trees. Unless you want to keep it in the living room for a few more week, for a limited time the Concord disposal Service will be picking up and recycling your Christmas tree. They say they don't want anything over 5 feet but I'm going to sneak in my 6 footer. Just leave the trees out for your next scheduled garbage day and they do the rest. If you live in the greater Concord area and have Allied Waste Services as your garbage collection service, they have the 2009 Treecycling calendar up on their website.

Even the Mayor needs to spend time with the family on Christmas. I hope that all of you have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend with family and friends.

Have You Talked to Your Kids? Years ago, after a big quake, a couple, fearing aftershocks, sent their young son to stay with his uncle in another town. A day later, they received this telegram: “Am returning your boy. Send earthquake.” Seriously, though, we should do what we can to prepare our kids for a serious quake. Here’s a few suggestions: 1. Install bumper pads in cribs to protect babies during shaking 2. Show older kids the safest places to be in each room 3. Teach children what to do wherever they are during a quake (at school, in a tall building, outdoors) Reach Larry Guillot, owner of QuakePrepare, a Bay area earthquake consulting, securing, and gas valve installation service, at 707-965-3299; visit QuakePrepare.com to receive QuakeTip e-mails and safety reports.

West Contra Costa Costa County School District released the names of schools they are closing and/or consolidating. Understandably, parents of the kids attending these schools are outraged.  But with the school district facing a multimillion dollar cut, they have little choice. (I guess) Why is it that private companies like Ford and Chrysler are able to stand before Congress and ask for billions of our tax dollars but a school that is supposed to be looked over by the State is getting the shaft?!? Is our government that diluted to think that helping a business that has made decades of bad decisions is better for the country than making sure we raise educated kids? Maybe there is something I am missing but it sounds like common sense to me. This got me thinking about my own backyard and if Concord and the Mount Diablo Schools District is about to announce something along the same lines. Our district is having problems too. Based on the "Approved Reductions" for the school district, our kids are in for some hurt too. Reduce contributions to summer school. - Will only be providing remediation class as well as classes for students to make up credits. So no more high ...

Got word that one of my posts was getting some attention at Reuters so I had to look. I have been given some attention on other online newspapers in Chicago but it looks like I have moved up the food chain a bit. Back in Sept I wrote about Crime in Concord and that was picked up as well as the post for the new home of the Walnut Creek Police Dept. How they choose their stories is a mystery to me but I am going to find out. Either way I appreciate all of the new visitors that have stopped by due to these posts in Reuters.

I made it to the MDUSD District office before they closed. I had a great conversation with Lori Amenta the Assistant to the District General Council. Lori is working hard to bring donations in for these kids and explained she is happy to work longer hours and through lunch breaks to get things done for HOPE. I dropped off my donation which they were thankful for and I got to hear some more stories about kids in Concord and surounding cities that are less fortunate than us. Trust me, if you are reading this blog then there is a good chance you have more than most of these kids. The story in the Contra Costa Times really pulled my heart strings. Maybe that's melodramatic but the article did touch me enough to do something about it. I wasn't always the Mayor of Concord, I remember growing up with financial problems and I have made every effort to make sure my family and I don't have to worry about food on the table or a roof over our heads. As I mentioned in the previous post about homeless students, kids should not be going without food and from the stories I heard ...

This is a sad story written by Theresa Harrington of the Contra Costa Times and I wanted to give it some additional attention. The stereotype of homeless people fills the head of drug addicts, the mentally ill and yes, even the Concord Crankster. Many times they are just people down on their luck and found themselves with nothing left and out on the streets. Then a story like this comes across my screen and my heart drops. CONCORD — Savannah is a 17-year-old girl high school student who lives with her diabetic grandmother in a shelter that will soon close. They don't know where they will go next. "I hope that we are able to get into a shelter so we can have a roof over our head," said Savannah's 55-year-old grandmother, who did not want to be identified by name. "I don't think she or myself would be able to survive on the street." Savannah is one of 185 students who receive services through the Mt. Diablo school district's Homeless Outreach Program for Education, or HOPE. The district has seen an increase in homeless students in the past three years, rising from 128 in 2005-06 to 322 last year. By federal law, any ...

It's not every year that Concord has a white Christmas. With the freezing weather coming from our friends up north, all of the elements collided and gave me a great view of a snow capped Mt. Diablo from my backyard. Since snow at Mt. Diablo isn't a normal occurrence, it's getting a lot of attention on mainstream news. Mt. Diablo's elevation is 3,849 so it must be pretty cold to get snow at that level. You can see a video from CBS5 here. There are a lot of pictures floating around the internet of snow capped Mt. Diablo, this is my favorite. by Kerry Reed

With the year coming to an end and all of the nominations being set for the Golden Globes featuring some of the greatest movies of the year. Some movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has not even been released yet but is up for Best Motion Picture, Drama. I did some searching for some movies in Concord and surrounding areas for videos of local directors that post their videos online. There are not a lot of people in the area uploading videos. Most of the videos I find are crap from real estate agents. No, I'm not hating on real estate but I would like to see more videos from people and not companies. Here is what I found. - Maybe these are not REAL Golden Globe quality but it's nice to promote some local talent.

I recently had a great conversation with GeoJoe, a guy that is involved in Geocaching. For those of you that do not know, Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. Yes, the East Bay has it's own Geocaching group and it's large. I heard about Geocaching a few years back when I was researching another post and I was interested in the concept but lost all of the links I had collected. Thanks to GeoJoe I was directed to all of the resources a newbie like me would need to start hunting for caches all over Concord and surrounding cities. A great place to start would be over at Geocaching.com where you can search by zipcode and get links to all of the ...

County supervisors of Contra Costa County had a vote in joining the lawsuits challenging the petition of Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage. Over 50% of Contra Costa County voted NO in the Novembers elections. A dozen more cities and counties — including Alameda, San Mateo and Marin counties and the city of Oakland — on Wednesday joined the petition challenging Prop. 8 in the state's highest court. Voters statewide passed the law Nov. 4, and the city and county of San Francisco, city of Los Angeles and Santa Clara County filed the petition the next day, claiming Prop. 8 violates the state constitution's equality provisions. In closed session Tuesday, Contra Costa supervisors voted 4-1, with Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond dissenting, not to join the lawsuit. Most other Bay Area counties have taken up the fight, with the exception of Solano, Napa and Sonoma, which have not decided what to do. Sonoma County supervisors plan to discuss the lawsuit in closed session Tuesday. - CoCo Times. Contra Costa County was very vocal on Prop. 8. There were people standing on corners for both sides holding signs in support or opposition of the ballot measure. The police even had to be called ...