Mayor of Concord » Focus on Concord

Concord Soldier Dies in Iraq

Concord Blogger — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:11:05 +0000

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 to civilian control.” - Source

Indirect fire is most commonly associated with field artillery. It is also used with mortars and naval guns against shore targets, sometimes with machine guns and has been used with tank and anti-tank guns and by anti-aircraft guns against surface targets.

I have a special place in my heart for the soldiers fighting overseas. My heart goes out to the family of Benjamin B. Tollefson in this time. Be proud that your son served as an honorable soldier.

The LA Times is running a project tracking all of the deaths of soldiers. You can search by name, home town or High School.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants to Raise Our Taxes

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Happy New Year Concord

Concord Blogger — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:35:29 +0000

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.

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Concord Christmas Tree Recycling - Free Pickup

Concord Blogger — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:34:37 +0000

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.

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Happy Holidays Concord

Concord Blogger — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:12:11 +0000

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.

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Homeless Students MDUSD - How to help

Concord Blogger — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:19:11 +0000

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 while talking with Lori some of them don’t even have enough blankets to stay warm at night.Tragic.

This is the season of giving and I am asking the readers of this blog to give something to help support these kids.The MDUSD does not have an online system to receive donations which they really should look into, so in the meantime here are some ways you can help if you can’t drop off your gift.

Gift Card Mall is the company that serves Safeway gift cards as well as the other hundred stores you see filling those end caps at the grocery store. At Gift Card Mall you can purchase a card and have it mailed to the school district if you can’t drive it there yourself. (address at the bottom)

Since many of these kids don’t have warm clothes or even blankets, you can also get gift cards at Target.com, order one online and have it sent to the district as well.

Now you are always welcome to pick something up and drop it off at the MDUSD office. I know that most of you are busy people and may not be able to get to the office before they close at night, that’s why sending them something is just as good.

Anything helps. Gift Card Mall can create a card as little as $5.00, Target starts at $10.00. So there is really no reason you can’t donate something. Sure, I’ll be going without my Venti Nonfat Mocha for a few days but somehow I feel better knowing that I just helped feed some people.

Here is the information again about how and where to donate.

Target, Safeway or other gift cards for homeless students can be dropped off at the Mt. Diablo school district office, 1936 Carlotta Drive in Concord or sent to James Wogan, Riverview Middle School, 205 Pacifica Ave., Bay Point CA 94565. Check donations, which will be used for homeless tutoring services, should be made out to the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, noting homeless and foster youths. Receipts available on request. Information is at 925-458-6858 or www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/hope.

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Homeless Students a Growing Problem in Concord

Concord Blogger — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:09:12 +0000

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 student whose family moves in with another family is legally homeless, said James Wogan, program administrator.

He estimates the district could serve up to 500 homeless students by the end of this school year, providing bus passes, tutoring and counseling. The program also collects and distributes food for homeless families and helps them find housing, clothing, medical care and meet other needs.

“We’ve been getting one to three calls every day for the last two weeks,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of kids you wouldn’t expect. … We’re seeing families in Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek and Clayton. With this economy, there’s no ‘face’ to homelessness.” - Read the entire article on the Contra Costa Times.

17 years old living in a shelter and has the genuine desire to get an education and has the aspirations of going to college. No kid should have to carry that burden. I had no idea there were almost 500 kids in this situation in our area. As a member of the community this saddens me to hear this.

There is a way to help these kids. The district office is on my way home, I’m dropping off a Safeway gift card tonight.

I spoke to the MDUSD Dist. offices and they said they are accepting any donations they can get. There is a bin in their lobby for canned foods and such as well if you can spare any.

Target, Safeway or other gift cards for homeless students can be dropped off at the Mt. Diablo school district office, 1936 Carlotta Drive in Concord or sent to James Wogan, Riverview Middle School, 205 Pacifica Ave., Bay Point CA 94565. Check donations, which will be used for homeless tutoring services, should be made out to the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, noting homeless and foster youths. Receipts available on request. Information is at 925-458-6858 or www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/hope.

These stories make the social impact of our economic crisis even more desperate. I can stomache the stories about homeless adults but not kids. Thank you Theresa Harrington of the Contra Costa times for putting this story out!

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WooHoo! Snow on Mt. Diablo

Concord Blogger — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:31:58 +0000

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

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East Bay GeoCaching - Treasure hunting for adults

Concord Blogger — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:17:34 +0000

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 local caches in your area. Then all you need is your GPS and a few hours to go play. Geocaches are hidden in containers. Some the size of ammo cans and as small as a ‘hide-a-key’ box.

The site has links to all of the area geocaches. Geocachers take this seriously. All of the links will give you a latitude and longitude but then there are hints so you can find the cache easier. Some of the hints are encrypted where you have to decypher based on a key they provide, others are more mysterious.

This cache begs the age-old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

When you arrive on site, you will be faced with a choice: Chicken or Egg. You must decide.

If you think the Chicken came first, choose Left.
If you think the Egg came first, choose Right.

There is no sitting on the fence on this debate, you must choose one way or the other. Please sign one log only, the one contained within your choice.

by Robert Owens

Are there special groups that get together and maintain these caches?
Not really. It is the responsibility of the individual who hides any cache to maintain it. While geocachers may search for caches in groups, each cache is typically hidden by an individual geocacher.

Where in the East Bay do most of these caches reside?

That’s tough to say. While almost every single park or open space area in the east bay has at least one cache in it, you can also find caches, called “urban caches”, scattered about in the heart of just as many cities and towns. Certainly, however, all the East Bay Regional Parks and trails (see http://ebparks.org/) have an abundance of caches hidden in them.

What is the goal?
It depends on your preference. Some people go geocaching just to see how many cache finds they can accumulate over time, while others simply enjoy the journey and discovering new places without concern over how many finds they have. Either way, the fun is in the hunt. There isn’t any one specific goal, other than just to see if you can use your GPS and your wits to find something that someone else has hidden (like a treasure hunt).

What are the tools needed?

Just a GPS receiver or even a GPS-enabled cell phone. Shovels are not necessary, as caches cannot be buried underground. They tend to be hidden in locations such as tree stumps, under rocks, or attached to metal objects (if magnetic).

This sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe even something you can do with your kids.

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Someone Hates Concord Toyota

Concord Blogger — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:45:29 +0000

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.

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Concord Growing Homeless Problem Up for Debate

Concord Blogger — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:42:38 +0000

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 here telling us that people only stop being homeless if they have permanent housing, so I’d just like more information.”

I don’t know about you Bill but that just sounds obvious and I wouldn’t need an expert to tell me!

I would think that creating jobs and putting these people into drug rehab and giving them other support mechanisms would be the key.

There are about 4,000 homeless people countywide, and in a given year 10,000 to 12,000 utilize services offered by soup kitchens, food banks or the like, said Councilman Bill Shinn.

“We have to be careful when we talk about the homeless — they’re not under bridges and peeing on trees,” he said. “That’s a stereotype.”

I’ve read many stories in the Contra Costa Times and on other local blogs about homeless people sleeping under bridges and peeing on trees. First off, under a bridge is a great place to sleep if you don’t have a home and where else are these people supposed to go pee? Sure we don’t have the issues like in cities like San Francisco where people are defacating in the streets but to say that homeless people don’t pee on trees is a bit ridiculous. People with homes pee on trees if their drunk enough.

This is going to be an interesting story to follow. What Concord decides to do is going to have a major impact on the city. You can throw the buzz word “World Class” into it if you want but I doubt it will be anything close.

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Happy Thanksgiving Concord

Concord Blogger — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:40:18 +0000

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!

Free Thanksgiving Dinners

Concord Blogger — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:57:55 +0000

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).

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