Army Pvt. Benjamin B. Tollefson, 22, Concord, Calif., died Wednesday in Balad, of wounds suffered from indirect fire in Ghazaliya. As of Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, at least 4,221 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The 'Peoples' Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a statement about this soldier's death. Camp Anaconda is a large US base near Balad, spread over 15 square miles. As of late June 2004, the majority of the airfield's pre-existing bunkers have been abandoned by the US military. Facility Engineer Team 21 out of Ft Devens is the Department of Public Works for the basecamp. As of September 2003 the Team was working on a Master Plan for the base, which may get as big as 20,000 soldiers. As of May 2004 the base had 17,000 troops and was 12 1/2 miles in circumference. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the House Armed Services Committee in March 2004 that ". . . we are making Balad Airfield our primary hub in the region, and the idea of doing that is because we need to have the Baghdad International Airport revert ...

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.

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.

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

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 ...

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.

As if the Mayor didn't already have his hands full with taxes, hookers, cranksters, and internet scandal. Bill Shinn is having to open up the debate on the land use plan of the Naval Weapons Station and making room for the growing homelessness problem. I though his "Quit Having Sex" policy was going to do the trick but I guess not. City leaders are debating how to accommodate some of the county's homeless population on the shuttered Concord Naval Weapons Station. City Council members are trying to decide whether Concord should put $25 million into a trust for homeless services and housing throughout the county, or instead approve a plan for 260 "homeless" housing units on the former military base. The federal government, through its base closure laws, requires that communities overseeing a base closure dedicate part of the land or money made off it to homeless causes. Required by law...Looks like Billy better figure something out quick. Nothing I heard about in the land use discussions had anything to do with the homeless. Lots of clustered villages, road construction and parks but nothing for the Concord homeless. But the best quote from Bill Shinn came later in the article. "Yet we have the experts ...

Giving thanks. While we spend time with our family and friends engorging ourselves with hot turkey and stuffing wondering where the 'good' cranberry sauce is, we should take a moment to thank the people around us for what they have done for us. HAPPY THANKSGIVING CONCORD I want to thank all of my readers for coming to the site, leaving comments and sending me emails, even if I cant respond to all of them. Because of my new readers, I have been welcomed into the local blogging scene here in Concord. Just for the month of November the Mayor of Concord blog has increased it's readership 67% over last month. I know that I don't have as many visitors as some local blogs but I am getting more unique visitors every day and that growth all comes from people like you sharing the site with your friends. Thank You! Most popular posts of November. Concord Police Scanner Codes: 364 Concord Cranksters: 331 Hooker Hangout in Concord: 315 Sex Drugs and Craiglist: 251 Local Blogs Shaped Concord Elections: 201 Concord City Council Elf Dance: 187

The Contra Costa Times has a large list of locations in Contra Costa County that are offering free Thanksgiving dinners. These free dinners are made by donations from the community. Concord: Free holiday meal for those in need. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Thursday, First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4000 Concord Blvd., Concord. For details, call 925-682-8410 (English) or 925-261-9315 (Spanish).

I am falling behind in my Concord Earthquake Tips. Larry Guillot of Quake Prepare has sent me more tips for the people of Concord to pay attention to. Take a Good Look Around! It’s surprising how few of us have walked around our home to take note of which furniture is ready to injure us in a serious quake. There’s usually quite a bit of it, folks! I’ve done many consultations where the homeowner thinks that because a piece is heavy, like an armoire or a desk, for example, it won’t fall. Or that because something is on wheels, like a baby bed, it will slide and not fall. Not true! Pieces like these are crying out for securing. For the handy person, securing is no big deal. Just go to your friendly hardware store and find the earthquake hardware section. If you’re not inclined this way, or just don’t have the time, hire your own handyman or go to my website: www.QuakePrepare.com This is not that expensive. Most importantly, in a big quake, most injuries are due to falling objects (not fire). Is it worth taking a chance that you or somebody you love could be badly hurt? And, try comparing ...