Some readers were surprised by and questioned the $1.9m figure I used in my most recent Saltpeter column. Tom Lochner had a very good summary a few weeks ago, but here is how it adds up: In July 2008, the City (not the Redevelopment Agency) spent $750k on the planning and design of a sports [...]
My latest column… In the past two years, the City of Hercules has spent nearly $1.9 million in an effort to annex 500 acres north and south of Highway 4 on the eastern edge of town. The fruits of the expensive effort, however, will be the annexation of a meager 77 acres, now known as [...]
The Planning Commission will receive a status report on the redesign of the retaining walls adjacent to the railroad tracks at their meeting on Monday evening — 7pm at City Hall. The proposed redesign will likely alter the dimensions of the Intermodal Station project site and be in conflict with the adopted Waterfront Now Initiative. [...]
I was heartbroken reading this report by Tom Lochner, and I’m trying to figure out if it means… City Manager Nelson Oliva is/was full of shit. The City cannot keep its promises. No one knows what they are doing. I’m living in Fantasyland. But Hercules’ choice of a Big League Dreams site lies outside the [...]
Earlier this week I posted a link to a recent Patch article on the wastewater treatment facility and the City’s decision to switch from the joint Hercules-Pinole facility just over the southern border and instead send the city’s waste to WCWD in Richmond. (The City is also considering a privately financed and managed facility, likely [...]
Tom Lochner reports… [Mike] Sakamoto was Hercules’ city manager from early 2002 until he retired in April 2007, citing a bad back. He came back to work for Hercules in October 2008 as a consultant, when the City Council awarded his firm, Municipal Management Enterprises LLC, a $100,000-per-year contract to administer the Hercules Municipal Utility. [...]
The City responded last week to the news that the Hercules City Manager is the highest paid executive in West Contra Costa County. The response was rather bland, but it did include footnotes. And it hasn’t garnered media attention. There was some news made however, or acknowledgment of an as-of-yet unspoken truth. The City outlined [...]
The City formally broke away from the existing joint Pinole-Hercules wastewater treatment facility just over the Pinole border when it announced its intention to switch to the West County Wastewater District (WCWD) in Richmond. The City Council recently approved $1.16m in preliminary design fees to make the switch. However, the cost to switch is high, [...]
The City will pursue negotiations to purchase property along Willow Avenue (including the site currently operated by West Coast Drilling; lorem ipsum dolor) as it establishes the ultimate property boundary for the future Cinema Town and Transit Town, the second and third phases of the New Town Center project. (The first phase is Market Town, [...]
Tom Lochner keeps digging… “[Mike] Sakamoto worked for an investment banking firm that underwrote a $60.6 million Hercules Redevelopment Agency bond issue. But that information is not included in public disclosure documents available at Hercules City Hall. [...] Today, Sakamoto, who served as city manager from early 2002 to April 2007, has several consulting portfolios [...]
There currently aren’t any development plans for the future Big League Dreams complex, but once the City finalizes the annex acquisition (500 acres north and south of CA-4), the developer said the project is pretty much “ready to go.” The complex would be very similar to the current facility in Manteca, but the developer acknowledged [...]
In closed session prior to Tuesday’s meeting — 7pm at City Hall — the City Council and Redevelopment Agency will enter negotiations to purchase Hercules Point (approximately 11 acres). Other items of note… Receive a report from State Senator Mark DeSaulnier. Additional consulting services for the annexation of property along Highway 4 (“the annex”) to [...]
The City Council will expand consulting services (an additional $203.5k) in its pursuit to annex property north and south of Highway 4 at tomorrow evening’s City Council meeting — 7pm at City Hall. The annexed property will ultimately host a sports complex. The City will also ramp up its efforts to pass a ballot measure [...]
Instead of simply pointing out questions and concerns on this blog — and conjuring belief that it makes any bit of difference — I addressed the City Council last night* on the proposed annexation… * In other words, I made an ass of myself.
A more complete report was published late on Monday (compared with the one posted here earlier)… Hercules looks to annex 500 acres along highway By Tom Lochner Hercules is poised to launch a drive to annex about 500 acres along Highway 4 that would include a site for an approximately 40-acre sports complex. The City [...]
A breakdown of the plan for the 500 acres — open-space, commercial, industrial, sports fields — has not been released… Hercules looks to annex 500 acres along highway By Tom Lochner Hercules is poised to launch a drive to annex about 500 acres along Highway 4 that would include a site for a sports complex, [...]
If you have been longing for a City Council meeting with a deep agenda, look no further, this coming Tuesday’s meeting — 7pm at City Hall — will be a doozy. The City will commence efforts to annex property (the properties north and south of CA-4, east of Willow Avenue, west of the Franklin Canyon [...]