Pitch in for Pleasant Hill’s service day

PLEASANT HILL, CA (Aug. 21, 2023) — I have three items to share with you this month that are representative of why Pleasant Hill is a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.

A day to help the community

If you’re looking for a way to give back to your community, Community Service Day is the event for you.

Each year, hundreds of Pleasant Hill residents turn out to help with community service projects around the city. The projects include creek, school and park cleanups, refurbishing used bicycles for donation and helping White Pony Express prepare for food deliveries.

This year, Community Service Day arrives Sept. 23. The event starts at 7:30 a.m. with a free breakfast at Pleasant Hill Park, courtesy of the Lion’s Club. This is also where our volunteers will pick up their complimentary T-shirts. After breakfast, crews of volunteers will head to the various project sites until noon.

For those unable to participate on the day, you can help out in other ways.

If you have a used bike you can part with, drop it off at the Pleasant Hill Police Department before Sept. 22 for use in the Bike Build-A-Thon project. Crews will clean and refurbish the bikes, which are then donated to needy families.

In addition, there will be food collection sites around the city. The food collection happens in partnership with the Food Bank of Contra Costa/Solano County. The city’s website will list sites for this year. Look for it at  www.pleasanthillca.org/csd later this month.

We will begin volunteer signups after Aug. 15. Residents can sign up for specific projects in advance through a signup genius. You can also sign up the day of the event by coming to the park.

Striping and bike lanes near Valhalla

With the school year getting started, we want to make drivers, pedestrians and cyclists aware of some work that’s been going on near Valhalla Elementary School.

If you’ve traveled on Kiki Drive near Valhalla recently, you may have noticed the striping and signage changes completed as part of the citywide repaving project. The city intended many of these changes to make it safer for students to travel to and from school by foot or bicycle.

Enhancements include new crosswalk striping and signs, shoulder striping, a reduced school zone speed limit, and a buffered bike lane on the north side of Kiki Dr along the school frontage between Odin Place and Skander Lane.

Along with these changes, parking or waiting along the curb is no longer permitted. It would block the bike lane. Drivers waiting to pick up students will be rerouted through the school parking lot for improved circulation. When dropping off/picking up, please follow the signs, cones and instructions to keep everyone safe.

Pleasant Hill Perks are back

The very popular Pleasant Hill Perks program has returned. Designed to help residents shop locally, the program allows participants to purchase a gift card good for purchases at 61 participating businesses in Pleasant Hill.

To make the deal even sweeter, people who buy a gift card get a second one worth 50% of their purchase for free. So, if you buy a $100 card, you will get a $50 card at no charge. It’s a good deal and a great gift to give.

To learn more about the Pleasant Hill Perks program, go to www.pleasanthillca.org/perks.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Email questions and comments for Mayor Flaherty to tflaherty@pleasanthillca.org