Clayton residents: State of the city is sound

CLAYTON, CA — The City Council, Planning Commission and staff have been working hard to stay on top of various projects and city business, as well as the growing list of legislation coming from the state that may/will affect Clayton.

Here are some highlights:

Our city budget is approved and strong. We are also applying for various grant opportunities and will soon receive funds from the federal American Rescue Plan. We will identify the best utilization of those funds as soon as we have them.

The council held its annual goal-setting session and has a list of both achievable and aspirational objectives. A priority is to start the process of identifying possible uses for the vacant land at the entrance to downtown. We will ask citizens to get involved in this process to ensure the widest cross-section of thoughts and opinions and to achieve the best possible future use.

Do the Right Thing

The Do the Right Thing program has restarted, honoring outstanding students from Mt. Diablo Elementary and Diablo View Middle schools. March had “integrity” as its core value pillar, and the program awarded five students for their efforts. From MDE, Daelyn Chippero and Emma Del Bianco; from DVMS, Corinne Jeandheur, Ruby Nunez and Yoseph Sakhi. Congratulations to these fine students. April will honor students leading the way in “courage.”

We installed new lighted stop signs, along with some new crosswalk striping, near the schools.

City Manager Reina Schwartz is working on recruitment to fill the vacant community development director position.

The ad hoc Public Safety Committee met and worked with residents of the Keller Ridge/Kelok Way areas to mitigate traffic, noise and safety concerns.

Planning Commission

Ed Miller joined the Planning Commission, bringing the commission back to full strength. There will be open seats on the Planning Commission again this June. Please consider applying when the process is announced.

The city reviewed and approved the Diablo Meadows housing development.

Council approved funding for two new police patrol vehicles to replace aging ones.

We proclaimed March 11, 2021, as “Bob and Eldora Hoyer Day.”

As of this writing, it looks as though SB9 (reference March 2021 Pioneer) may make it through the Senate. We will continue to put pressure on our state legislators to further our position as this bill works its way to the Assembly. We may call upon you to assist us by writing letters to your state representatives stating your thoughts on SB9, as well as on other bills that arise.

We encourage you to stay involved and to join the City Council and Planning Commission meetings, currently held via ZOOM. We will provide monthly legislative updates during council meetings. When you cannot attend, we urge you to watch the video replays.

Find information on these meetings and videos at ci.clayton.ca.us. You can also subscribe to e-notifications there to get city information sent directly to you.

Send questions and comments to cwolfe@ci.clayton.ca.us, or call (925) 673-7324