I've been blogging for a while and if there is something that I was most misguided about in the past few months, it's this. Local blogging is very hard work. You look at some of the other bloggers in the Concord area and you can see that some are updating 4-5 times a day. It's amazing really. I have another blog that covers social media and in that niche, other bloggers that do this for a living may post 2-3 times a week and that's considered a lot. So my hat goes off to all of you that have a job and a family and still find the energy to keep the rest of us entertained and up to speed on our local world. This brings me to my gem of the day. I came across a local blogger that just happens to be a motorcycle cop. He has a blog where he talks about his work and the people he gets to deal with. I guess I should have known that cops can have blogs. I just never read one before and this one just happens to be in our back yard. Make sure you bookmark MotorCop. He doesn't post often ...

Martinez was hit with several burglaries over the past 30 days. The police eventually caught  two suspects as they got into a car with a pillow case of 'alleged stolen' property. Searches of the kids homes turned up more 'alleged' stolen property as well as a few guns. Claycord has more information from the Martinez PD. The kicker is that these kids did not live in the area and were attending school near the scene of the crime. The juviniles picked homes to break into based on their proximity to the bus stop they use. Just like how bank robbers choose their targets based on access to freeways for an easy get away, these kids that attend a continuation school were smart enough to time their heists to the bus schedule. Police believe that the two boys, a Bay Point resident and a Pittsburg resident who attend a continuation school on Glacier Drive near Arnold Drive, were burglarizing homes after school while they waited for the bus, which stops on Arnold Drive. The burglaries appear to have stopped the week of Thanksgiving when school was not in session.-Source I live in a house next to a County Connection bus stop. I've always been wary of ...

Just as an update on the Concord Police request I put in, I won't write too much on this. I got a call today from the CPD and spoke with Lieutenant Gartner. I kept calling him 'sir' or Lieutenant and I had flashbacks like I was talking to my old XO. As promised, he got back to me regarding the question of being added to the Concord Police Press Releases. He explained that bloggers do have to meet some standards to get added to press releases. The mainstream media gets added since their is an implied professionalism not always found with bloggers. That and the amount of requests that a police department could get for these requests could be inundating. I have been added to the Concord Major Crimes Press Release distrubution list. WooHoo for me. As these come through, I will post them. Thank you Lieutenant Gartner.

The City of Concord appointed Laura Hoffmeister as the new Mayor last night. I don't know why we can't get any new people in the council. I'm not one for politics but I know there are other Concord residents that would bring new blood and ideas to the City. I am glad that Helen Allen didn't take over and we have someone that actually lives in Concord looking over the city. From Laura Hoffmeister's profile, I don't see anything that makes her unqualified. She has the opportunity to make an impact for the community and I hope she does. The City of Concord was quick to add Laura's new position to their website but I don't see an update to "Message from the Mayor". I can only hope that she is writing it now and it will be updated soon. I really hope that her message is not the same as Shinn's and just reformatted. Mayor Hoffmeister, embrace the people. Give us something to believe in for the city we call home. As a Veteran, I appreciate all you have done for the people in uniform. I don't know if you have family in the military but having public support is always welcome. You ...

Visited Your Shut-offs Lately? It’s time to get acquainted with your gas, electric, and water shut-offs. I’m finding in my earthquake consults that, even though most folks know where the cut-offs are, many aren’t sure how to operate one or more of them. Even worse: in more than half of my consults I discover that the gas valve is “frozen.” So, here’s the deal: 1. know where gas, electric, and water shut-offs are 2. make sure every capable person in the house knows how to operate them 3. test the gas & water valves (slight movement to make sure they aren’t inoperable) If valves are frozen, call PG&E (gas) or EBMud (water) and ask that the valve be replaced or repaired: they will take care of the problem with no charge. 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.

The best part of having a local blog is being able to post information in support of great causes. In November I posted about a few eco-divas from MuseGreen. They contacted me again introducing me to a local non-profit group called the Peter Pan Foundation. The Peter Pan Foundation was founded in 2006 and is dedicated to using theatre arts, fundraising, and community service to teach teens, children, and young adults in our community about the importance of philanthropy. Founded by actress and philanthropist Leslie Noel, the vision is to instill selflessness, community awareness and service, as well as to help discover their own talents and build confidence through the expression of these talents. Noel established her nonprofit foundation to recognize Steffen Ryge, who had been one of Noel’s dedicated students and played Peter Pan in a revue. Ryge was killed in a car accident two months after his Acalanes High graduation. Noel was devastated, but when Ryge’s parents asked her to sing at his funeral, Noel agreed to perform—and realized that Ryge would have wanted the foundation to exist. - Diablo Magazine The Perter Pan Foundation is having it's annual Christmas musical "Twas the Opening Night Before Christmas". It’s on Dec 20th at 1:30pm ...

I was drinking my morning coffee and reading through my other local blogs when I saw a new post from Claycord saying the Pittsburg is better than Concord. This was a statement by the Mayor of Pittsburg Nancy Parent. Nancy Parent says that Pittsburg is closer to Walnut Creek than it is Concord regarding crime. At first I was thinking "WTF!", how can the Mayor of Pittsburg begin to say they have less crime than Concord. I have lived here my entire life and Pittsburg has ALWAYS been known as a city stuck with crime issues.So I figured I would look at the data and see what the deal is. Lets look at some crime data about Crime in Pittsburg. Lets look at Concord Crime Data So what does this mean. By looking at the data, I have a higher chance of being murdered in Pittsburg but my house has less of a chance of being burglarized. Then again, Concord has an higher violent crime number according to aggravated assaults and robberies. Should I be concerned? According to the research there were 107 registered sex offenders living in Pittsburg, California in early 2007. The ratio of number of residents in Pittsburg to the number of ...

Buying a car is not a fun process. Car sales people carry the stereotype of being shady and slimy, doing and saying whatever it takes to sell a car. I have had experience with car sales people like this and some that were very professional. Concord Toyota must have really pissed someone off because they have posted a video on YouTube explaining how Concord Toyota lied to him and when he went to straighten things out he was treated like an idiot. I don't know all the facts but Concord Toyota, you have got one angry customer and you might want to address this issue before they pull out a can of web 2.0 whoop ass.

You haven't seen Chico the Dog in the Contra Costa Times but he's been featured in Eye on Blogs. He is the only dog with his own blog. Chico lives in the East Bay and needs a home. I'm pretty big -- about 100 lbs. I'm a cross between a German and an Australian Shep. I'm pretty sure my mom was the Aussie since my tail is cropped. I will protect you -- and if you have gardeners with blowers, I'll scare the compost out of 'em. OK, I do have a few issues: I am an alpha male, and I really like cats (they taste good). So, if it's just you and me, we're golden! I'm an awesome dog. Really -- just ask me. I'll tell you.... I love people. I love to take walks. I know how to sit and lie down. Did I mention that I'm only 2 years old? Chico was found near Clearlake and is being taken care of by a foster family with the Contra Costa SPCA, based in Concord. Chico started his blog after moving to the East Bay and finally having  a broadband connection. I know the foster family and though they love ...

Unclaimed items from BART's Lost and Found to be sold at auction. I guess they have to do something with all of this stuff. If someone forgets their bike on BART then they don't deserve to have one. BART's Lost and Found Department collects thousands of personal articles left on the system by customers.  They return as many as they can to their rightful owners, but the unclaimed articles accumulate in big piles.  What happens to the orphaned umbrellas, computers, jackets, bikes and such?  The unclaimed articles eventually are auctioned off to new owners. You are invited to participate in the auction to be held as follows: AUCTION: Saturday, December 6, 10:00 am PREVIEW OF ITEMS: Friday, December 5, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm LOCATION: Clar's Auction Gallery, 5644 Telegraph Ave. (at 56th Ave), Oakland PHONE: 510-428-0100

Great news from the State Capital and I'm not talking about Esteban Nunez. Senator Mark DeSaulnier is a prior Mayor of Concord and was a City Councilmember from 1991 to 1993. Here is the press release and a link to his website. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SACRAMENTO—Senator Mark DeSaulnier has been named chair of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. December 1, 2008 marked DeSaulnier’s first day as a California State Senator. “With the sharp economic downturn in California and throughout our nation, many are realizing that the social safety net has been yanked out from under the middle and working classes. We need to focus our attention to reenergizing local economies and creating jobs that support workers and their families. I’m proud to be given the duty of chairing this committee so early in my time in the Senate,” said DeSaulnier. Prior to his election to the Senate, DeSaulnier served in the Assembly. There he chaired the Assembly Committee on Transportation and served as a member of the Appropriations, Human Services, Rules and Labor and Employment committees. DeSaulnier spent nearly thirty years in local government prior to joining the Legislature and concurrently ran a successful restaurant in Concord, CA. “I am honored that President ...

Esteban Nunez the son of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez is all over the news for being arrested for the murder of a Concord resident Luis Santos. Besides getting updates on this story from mainstream news, there is so much more to find online on Esteban Nunez. As with most people his age, he is a member of the social media community MySpace and since his profile is open for the public (for now), there are many pictures of him and his crew. http://www.myspace.com/enunez89 This picture shows Esteban and his friends. Seems like they have the same fascination with the biohazard symbol since all of them are showing off their tattoos. These are the tattoos that join them together in the THC crew. THC is a chemical in Marijuana but in this case it seems that THC stands for "The Hazard Crew". All the members of the attack were members of this THC crew and the police are looking into this as a gang crime. Arrested in addition to Esteban Nunez were Ryan Jett, Rafael Garcia and Leshanor Thomas. Esteban has Ryan Jett on his MySpace friends list and there is a L.T. which could be Leshanor Thomas but that's not confirmed. MySpace is a wealth ...

In early Oct the news spread that Luis Santos a Concord resident who was in college in San Diego was stabbed to death after a party near campus. Santos grew up in Concord and went to local schools, attending Clayton Valley High School and graduating from Olympic High School. Initially no suspects were arrested. I really thought the story had gone away but last night the news broke that an arrest has been made and it goes all the way to the State Capitol. The 19-year-old son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has been arrested along with three others in connection with the October stabbing death of a 22-year-old college student from Concord. Esteban Nunez was arrested on suspicion of murder at his father's Sacramento-area home, San Diego police said. He will be taken to San Diego where he will face one count of murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.-CoCo Times Esteban Núñez, along with Ryan Jett, Leshanor Thomas and Rafael Garcia, all 19, were taken into custody with the assistance of Elk Grove Police Department officers and Sacramento County sheriff's deputies, according to a press release from the San Diego Police Department. I can only imagine that the ...

Thanks to Brittney over at Eye on Blogs for sharing this with her readers. I get a fair amount of emails regarding my site but Gmail was flooded today. I think that Brittney poses a great question on her site and I want to respond to some of the comments I have received about the original post. Should governmental agencies release memos and other information given freely to mainstream media organizations to any blogger who asks? Should there be vetting of bloggers? Wouldn't an agency become overrun if they granted every request, or are there really that many minibloggers interested to make a dent? The point of a press release is to announce information to the public. It doesn't take much to have a short list of mainstream news to proactively contact with the hopes that they may run a story. The question is what about the rest of us that want to know what the mainstream isn't covering. There have been many cases where I see a press release on another site that has got zero exposure on mainstream news. The city is capable of publishing this information online. If bloggers can't be added to the distribution list for information the ...

It's that time again where I pull from my reader emails and post one that I want to share. Actually, I have about 10 of these posts ready to go now. Since I made the original "Email the Mayor" post back in October, there have been many emails that have come through and I've been building them up so I can have a few in the pipe. This email comes from John in Concord. I have a lot of friends that post crazy stuff on their myspace and on YouTube. I try to explain to them that this type of stuff can come back to haunt them but they don't care. They say that if they don't show anything illegal that they don't have to worry. Can you write up a post about the dangers of posting things online? -John Thanks John. The truth is that in the digital age people are making videos and posting pictures of themselves like no other time in history. I for example pretty much post my entire life through pictures videos and my blogs. I have a fairly trasparent life but I do keep certain things personal and  off the grid. Kids are probably the most naive about putting ...