The Los Angeles Times uses Hercules as an example in a report on easy money in the redevelopment game… Hercules, population 25,000, boasts a certain coziness that has little to do with its size or location on San Pablo Bay in Contra Costa County. In 2003, after a federal grand jury indicted its affordable-housing manager [...]

In a luncheon with local business leaders, Councilmember Joe Eddy McDonald described concerned Waterfront residents as NIMBY elites… “Earlier, McDonald chided what he called the ‘drawbridge mentality’ of some Hercules waterfront residents who have criticized the slow pace of development there. McDonald characterized the controversy as a ‘manufactured issue.’” Doesn’t McDonald realize that the Waterfront [...]

The reporting continues… “Hercules’ affordable housing contracts will go out to bid next year, and the ‘nepotism issue’ with the company that currently runs the programs has been resolved, officials say. But the company’s new owners have been slow to amend the public record to reflect the new situation and their new principal place of [...]

“Key” being a relative term; in this case, it depends on who you ask… “Valstad and McDonald [in the candidate roundtable discussion] each used the phrase ‘very successful’ to describe, respectively, the affordable housing program overall and the Homeownership Retention and Loss Mitigation Program in particular. Regarding the grand jury report, Valstad said the issue [...]

Some rather incoherent commentary from our humble elected officials (on three issues: Intermodal Station and waterfront development, affordable housing, and the City Manager)… Highlights include: Joe Eddy McDonald stating that there would be no delay in the Intermodal Station’s federal funding (but not mentioning the construction delay), plus stating that the surrounding development has nothing [...]

It is a conspiracy seemingly as old as the city itself. And everyone believes it — councilmembers, commissioners, city staff, and residents, even outside developers. The conspiracy theory: the Contra Costa Times is out to get the city. It doesn’t really matter if what is reported is fact, or that the City agrees with 7 [...]

Although it was both too late and ultimately powerless, Councilmember Don Kuehne’s comments on the grand jury report at the last City Council meeting was a welcomed change… And it was that much more difficult for the arguably poor public speaker considering the fact that both the City Manager and City Attorney were staring Kuehne [...]

Tom Lochner reports on the City’s response… Hercules has fired back at last month’s scathing county grand jury report, calling baseless the jury’s findings that the conduct of city business, particularly the affordable housing program, lacks transparency and creates an “appearance of impropriety.” “Just because something looks wrong does not mean something is wrong,” reads [...]

The City has published its response — an 11-page letter signed by Mayor Kris Valstad (but likely written by the City Attorney and City Manager) — to the Contra Costa County Grand Jury’s scathing report released last month. Brief analysis to follow. UPDATE — The letter is testy: “The ‘appearance of impropriety’ is yet another [...]

Wow. The stench you smell emanating from the small city of Hercules is a conflict-of-interest cesspool that grows more putrid with each passing day. Despite warnings from residents, this paper and the Contra Costa County grand jury, City Council members continue to ignore the fetid flow, abrogating their responsibility to clean up the mess. The [...]

Resident Bill Kelly took to the podium on Tuesday evening and blasted the City Council for failing to act prior to the grand jury releasing their scathing report on questionable transactions made by the affordable housing agency, a City subcontractor with deep ties to the City Manager… After Kelly’s statement, Mayor Kris Valstad said that [...]

The Grand Jury report released late last week concluded with five recommendations… The City of Hercules shall expand ethics and conflict of interest training beyond the minimum two hours required by the California Attorney General’s memorandum, Ethics Training for Local Officials, and avail themselves of additional resources. The Hercules City Council shall direct the City [...]

The Grand Jury report released late last week concluded with eight findings… Awarding agreements to NEO without competitive bidding does not ensure the City is administering its programs in the most cost effective manner. Since 2003, the City of Hercules has executed agreements with NEO, previously owned by the current City Manager. NEO currently employs [...]

This makes complete sense… “The Contra Costa civil grand jury is accusing Hercules of questionable practices and a lack of transparency in its affordable housing and business loan programs.” You can read the scathing Grand Jury report online. And a complete subject archive of the affordable housing scandal is available on this blog.