Wednesday, December 21, 2011
City Council contemplates raising building height limit for retail-and-apartment Laconia Development project.
The City Council on Tuesday night took a step toward an apartment-and-retail development in a "secondary gateway" into downtown. The council voted 4-1 to direct city staff to process a potential General Plan Amendment to allow 70-foot buildings (raising the current 50-foot limit) for the development between North California Boulevard and Locust Street, across Bonanza Street from McCovey's Restaurant. Voting no was Council member Cindy Silva. "This is a big deal," she said. "It sets the stage for what happens in the future in the traditional downtown. We can do this well or we can do it poorly … 70 feet at the corner of Bonanza and California is too much." Silva said she had walked around the area, snapping photos and trying to imagine …
37.89926
-122.063529
1500 N California Blvd, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/n-california-blvd-development-proceeds
/locations/6050920
Monday, November 21, 2011
City plans another day to make it easy for hundreds of Walnut Creek volunteers; circle this date: Oct. 6, 2012.
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Update Nov. 22: There's a date now: Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. The city of Walnut Creek is planning to have a second annual Community Service Day in 2012. The date is now set: Saturday, Oct. 6. At a retreat earlier this month, the City Council discussed the prospect of a second annual and decided to go ahead, said Mayor Cindy Silva. "We're very fortunate to have had a 15-member volunteer organizing committee who, along with Gayle Vassar and Kim Coles from the City, developed and coordinated the entire program and I believe these volunteers will be willing to spearhead it again," wrote Silva in an email. "The group will begin the planning effort early next year." The first annual Community Service Day was Oct. 1 and drew about 1,000 volunteers…
37.901515
-122.061825
City of Walnut Creek
1666 N Main St, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/community-service-day-goes-forward-into-2012
115131
/locations/5863890
Friday, November 11, 2011
Report goes to City Council Tuesday from Walnut Creek Community Blue Ribbon Task Force on Fiscal Health.
A city task force has taken a hard look at city finances and concluded Walnut Creek should add a half-cent to the sales tax to keep the city afloat. A 48-page draft report by the 15-member Walnut Creek Community Blue Ribbon Task Force on Fiscal Health goes to the City Council at its next meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. Task Force Chairman Bob Pickett will discuss the report with the council Tuesday. Below is a Q&A with Pickett about the report and the many task force meetings that went into it. He might get some questions about recommendation 11A: "Even with the efforts to reduce operating costs and accumulate funds for needed capital projects, there will not be sufficient revenue to fund repairs to roads and streets…
Monday, October 17, 2011
U.S. News: Our fair city is in the top 10 in the nation, 'the greenest place to retire:' U.S. News.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Monday, October 17, 2011
Relax and enjoy the outdoors. That's easy to do in Walnut Creek, and U.S. News magazine recognizes it. The magazine and its Money section and website tapped the Creek as one of the 10 best places to retire in 2012. Flagstaff, Ariz., gets the nod for weather; Boone, N.C., is an affordable mountain town; Traverse City, Mich., has water views for a reasonable price — Walnut Creek scores for "greenest place to retire." U.S. News cited the wilderness access, the downtown selection of restaurants and the Lesher Center for the Arts. It exulted over the city's 22 parks and 2,704 acres of open space, the proximity of Mount Diablo and over the wisdom of Joe Stadum of the 55-and-over community, Rossmoor: "You can drive or ride your bicycle or run and…
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Women leaders join Mayor Cindy Silva for official proclamation.
The Walnut Creek City Council meeting Tuesday began with a celebration of women. Mayor Cindy Silva issued a proclamation urging citizens to celebrate Oct. 10 as the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in California. Silva was joined at the front of the council chambers by several of her predecessors as mayor and members of the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley. League President Lee Lawrence said that, a century ago, after many local suffrage organizations succeeded in winning the 1911 suffrage vote, they transformed themselves in leagues of women voters. The 1911 vote in California was close — suffrage passed by 2 percent, said Silva. "Walnut Creek would not be the city it is today without the women who — way way way…
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Hundreds fan out to 42 projects and make Walnut Creek a better place in first Community Service Day
It was overcast as hundreds of volunteers gathered not long after dawn Saturday at Heather Farm Park. On the southern horizon, grey clouds still hugged Mount Diablo. The volunteers gathered at the park to get their assignments, hand in their waivers and load their carbos, a free pancake breakfast from the Walnut Creek Lions Clubs. By the time the sun had shafted through the clouds, the volunteers had dispersed to dozens of sites around Walnut Creek. They dug and planted and weeded and cleaned and painted. Half a day later, Walnut Creek was a better place through the collective power of its first Community Service Day. At Walnut Creek Intermediate School, Jon Lee of Pleasant Hill raked under the bushes. He heard about Community Service Day …
37.917316
-122.041681
Heather Farm Park
1750 Heather Dr, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/volunteers-dig-and-paint-and-scrape-and-weed
1977569
/locations/5501362
Monday, September 26, 2011
City's day of giving is Saturday, with almost 800 signing up for 42 projects; it starts with a free pancake breakfast at Heather Farm Community Park, hosted by the Walnut Creek Lions Clubs.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
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Monday, September 26, 2011
The volunteers are coming! The volunteers are coming! The city of Walnut Creek reports a healthy advance signup, nearly 800 volunteers, for the city's first Community Service Day, Saturday, Oct. 1. The day begins with some carbo-loading — a free pancake breakfast at Heather Farm Community Park, hosted by the Walnut Creek Lions Clubs. Then the volunteers fan out across the city to do an array of projects designed for all interests and ages. Some will make stationery with the Creek Kids Care group to raise money for homeless programs. Others will pass out emergency preparedness literature. Some will paint bobcat (that's the mascot) pawprints on the blacktop at Bancroft Elementary School. Projects are to be completed by 1 p.m. Saturday. …
37.917316
-122.041681
Heather Farm Park
1750 Heather Dr, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/volunteers-signing-up-for-inaugural-community-service-day
1977569
/locations/5456249
Thursday, September 8, 2011
It's the third annual Mayors' Healthy Cookoff in Clayton.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, September 8, 2011
For Walnut Creek, it's a couple amateurs and a pro lined up for the third annual Mayors' Healthy Cook-off, scheduled for Saturday breakfast in Clayton. Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Silva is ready to cook. Ditto for Valle Verde Principal Rhys Miller, according to a tasteful piece in the Oakland Tribune. Silva likes the chances of Walnut Creek Yacht Club chef and co-owner Kevin Weinberg.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Mayor Cindy Silva talks about the philosophy behind Walnut Creek's volunteer day on Saturday Oct. 1.
This is one in an occasional Patch series on "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream," which includes innovative volunteer efforts like Walnut Creek's. Walnut Creek's debut Community Service Day — Saturday, Oct. 1 — is an initiative of Mayor Cindy Silva. Silva, in an email interview with Patch, said she expects 500 to 1,000 Walnut Creek volunteers to turn out and make the city shine that day. The bold-face entries mixed into this article are a sampling of projects for volunteers Oct. 1. Library book cleaning at elementary schools; paint and stain outdoor furniture at Bancroft Elementary; campus cleanup at Northgate High. Silva bases her estimate on the 150 to 300 community members who turn out on a Saturday morning in May for the city'…
37.901515
-122.061825
City of Walnut Creek
1666 N Main St, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/looking-for-500-to-1000-volunteers-on-community-service-day
115131
/locations/5126533
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Council authorizes continuation ordinance, with required payment to state, to be prepared this fall.
The Walnut Creek City Council took a step Tuesday night toward continuing the city's redevelopment agency under fiscal terms laid down by the state — referred to as "extortion" several times by city officials. As the city prepares to vote to continue the Walnut Creek Redevelopment Agency, Mayor Cindy Silva noted, "We built into the ordinance that we will be paying under protest." The city supports a petition filed with the California Supreme Court Monday that challenges the constitutionality of the state's restructuring of redevelopment. Plaintiffs in that suit include the League of California Cities and the cities of Union City and San Jose. Walnut Creek has relatively few redevelopment projects compared to other area cities, but the …
37.901515
-122.061825
City of Walnut Creek
1666 N Main St, Walnut Creek, CA
/articles/walnut-creek-keeps-lights-on-at-redevelopment-agency
115131
/locations/4893269
obiwan
11:48 am on Friday, December 23, 2011
(Well, Cindy didn't actually oppose raising the height to 70 feet along most of the California Blvd frontage, she just wanted a step down along Bonanza.) more ›