OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER

MEMORANDUM

August 2, 2013

TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council

FROM: Alan Tandy, City Manager AT/al

SUBJECT: General Information

______________________________________________________________________________

Good News!

The Westside Parkway was officially opened to public traffic this afternoon!

The Grand Opening ceremony was held earlier in the day, with

appropriate fanfare, as evidenced in the attached photos. Special thanks

to go Janet Wheeler of the TRIP office, who coordinated the event.

We found records of property being acquired for it as early as 1987. The

project costs, exclusive of right-of-way, have totaled $175 million over the

26+ years since new freeways came on line in Metropolitan Bakersfield.

It is a big step that will forever change traffic patterns. In the short-term, it

will relieve Coffee Road, Stockdale Highway, Rosedale Highway, Truxtun

Avenue, Brimhall Road, and others. When the section to the west (Phase

6C) and the east (Centennial Corridor) are finished, Bakersfield will have its

first ever complete east-west freeway!

More Good News

The Thomas Roads Improvement Program is planning a community meeting for

the State Route 178/Morning Drive Interchange project on August 20, 2013. The

attached letter of invitation will be sent to property owners in the vicinity of the

project area next week.

The community meeting will provide area residents and commuters with

information about the new interchange project and the upcoming construction

process. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 from 4 p.m. to 7

p.m. at Canyon Hills Assembly of God Church, 7001 Auburn Street, Bakersfield.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the project will be held the following day,

August 21, 2013, at 9:30 a.m., on the northwest corner of the current State Route

178/Morning Drive intersection.

General Information

August 2, 2013

Page 2

TRIP Traffic Advisory

The contractor for the Westside Parkway plans to close a section of Renfro Road,

between Stockdale Highway and Johnson Road, on Wednesday, August 7, 2013,

to allow the contractor to relocate utilities along Renfro Road and construct a

new bridge over the Westside Parkway.

The closure will be in the vicinity of the Westside Parkway alignment, and will

affect all through traffic, including automobile, bicycle and pedestrian. Access

to neighborhoods south of the project alignment will be maintained via

Stockdale Highway and Renfro Road. Access to neighborhoods north of the

project alignment will be maintained via Allen Road and Brimhall Road. Motorists

can detour around the closure via Allen Road and Brimhall Road (see attached

map).

This section of Renfro Road is expected to be closed until late summer 2014. The

full closure is necessary due to existing conditions at Renfro Road, which will not

accommodate a bypass road or allow part of the road to remain open during

bridge construction.

Miscellaneous News

According to the attached article from the periodical, Governing, people are

taking notice of our creative solution to removing litter from the freeways. Kudos

to our Solid Waste staff who are responsible for coming up with this very

innovative, and, as we know, successful program.

As was reported by the local media, we did not receive a petition for a

referendum in regard to the medical marijuana issue. In light of this, the

Ordinance passed by Council went into effect yesterday, August 1st.

The Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower Convention convenes again this weekend at

Rabobank Convention Center. This will be the fourth of six weekend conventions

the group has held in Bakersfield this summer. The Watchtower Convention will

return on the following two weekends: August 8-11 and 15-18.

Council Referrals

The following responses to Council referrals are attached:

Councilmember Maxwell:

o Design of Oak and California Intersection

o Signal Timing on 24th Street

o Recurrent Property Violations

Councilmember Johnson:

o Additional Early Prisoner Releases

General Information

August 2, 2013

Page 3

Reports

For your information, we enclose the following:

1. Streets Division work schedule for the week of August 5th; and

2. A letter from Bright House Networks regarding possible programming

changes.

Information from the Recreation and Parks Department

The Martin Luther King and Jefferson Pools will close for the season on Friday,

August 9th at 5:00 p.m., and the Silver Creek Pool will close on Friday, August 16th

at 4:00 p.m.

The McMurtrey Aquatic Center will remain open every day through Sunday,

August 18th, and then on weekends only through Monday, September 2nd.

All nine City spray parks will remain open daily through Labor Day, September 2nd,

and then on weekends only throughout September. As a reminder, spray parks

are operational from noon to 7:00 p.m. The locations can be found on the

website at www.bakersfieldparks.us

Upcoming Events

Movies in the Park

o The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Friday, August 2nd at 8:00 p.m.

Siemon Park

FREE

o Escape from Planet Earth

Friday, August 9th at 8:00 p.m.

Jastro Park

FREE

Low-Cost Rabies & Vaccination Clinic

o Saturday, August 10th, 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.

Beale Park

Additional information can be found on the City’s Animal Control webpage:

http://www.bakersfieldcity.us/police/Operations/Animal_Control/index.html

AT:rs:al

cc: Department Heads

Roberta Gafford, City Clerk

Westside Parkway - Ribbon Cutting

August 2, 2013

Thomas Roads Improvement Program

900 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 200, Bakersfield, California 93301

Telephone: (661) 326-3700 • Fax: (661) 852-2195

Managed by the City of Bakersfield in cooperation with

County of Kern • California Department of Transportation

www.Bakersfieldfreeways.us

August 5, 2013 Subject: State Route 178/Morning Drive Interchange construction Dear Property Owner, The City of Bakersfield and the Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP) invite you to attend a community meeting for the State Route 178/Morning Drive Interchange project on Tuesday, August 20, 2013. The meeting will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Canyon Hills Assembly of God Church’s Fireside Room, 7001 Auburn Street, Bakersfield. You are welcome to stop by any time during the three-hour period. The meeting will provide information about the new interchange project and upcoming construction. City and Caltrans project engineers will be available to answer questions. A presentation will be held at 5 p.m. and repeated at 6 p.m. The meeting format will allow the public to come and go at any time during the three-hour period. If your property is rented or leased, please provide your tenant(s) notice of this community meeting. The State Route 178/Morning Drive Interchange project will construct a new interchange at the existing intersection. As part of the project, State Route 178 will be widened to four lanes between the State Route 178/Fairfax Road Interchange and Canteria Drive. Morning Drive will also be realigned and widened to six lanes between State Route 178 and Auburn Street, and to four lanes between Auburn Street and Panorama Drive. In addition, Morning Drive will also be extended south to connect to the recently constructed roadway segment from College Avenue to just south of State Route 178. Construction will begin in early fall 2013, and is expected to take two years to complete. If you have any questions, please contact Janet Wheeler at 661-326-3491 or via email at jwheeler@bakersfieldfreeways.us. Sincerely, Kristina Budak City Project Engineer

Bakersfield's Creative Solution for Trash-Littered FreewaysBY: Bob Graves | July 29, 2013

"I don't get no respect." The old Rodney Dangerfield lament is one you hear all the time from people, whether in government, industry or the nonprofit world, who operate the infrastructure that provides water and energy and hauls away the trash. What frustrates these providers is the invisible role that they typically play in their communities -- that is, until there's a problem.

Some communities regularly deserve (and garner) recognition for their creative and sustainable water, energy and waste-management services. In California, San Francisco is one such city. Santa Monica is another. Often the difference comes down to resources -- having the money to build the infrastructure, keep it maintained and provide reliable service at a reasonable cost.

So it might seem surprising when a city like Bakersfield, in the heart of California's Central Valley and with fewer economic resources than San Francisco or Santa Monica, joins the group. Bakersfield's public-works department did so by creatively engaging the local community to find a sustainable solution to a growing roadside-litter problem.

This column appears in our monthly Infrastructure email newsletter. Click to subscribe.

As so often happens, it all started with a policy change at another level of government. Freeway upkeep falls under the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans). But the state's ongoing prison-realignment effort resulted in a loss of local inmate labor to hire to pick up trash on the roads. As litter accumulated along Bakersfield's freeways, residents found themselves driving through a growing eyesore.

Though not Bakersfield's responsibility, it still was a visible waste problem that the city would have to address. "Bakersfield was getting a bad name, and it wasn't under our control," says Sal Moretti, Bakersfield's Solid Waste Division superintendent.

Moretti started looking for solutions and hit on a novel idea: hiring clients of local nonprofit homeless centers to clean up the freeways. CalTrans agreed to come up with some of the money to pay the homeless-center clients, as long as the labor costs wouldn't be higher than they were for inmates.

Not only are the freeways being cleaned again, but a sense of hopelessness among Bakersfield's homeless is being addressed. And local businesses really liked that the homeless were working to get back on their feet. Several stepped forward and offered to support the project. So arrangements are now in place for companies to sponsor a mile of freeway for $6,700 a year, and the project is moving toward a self-sustaining model.

While solving a very visible problem in such a creative way may have returned Bakersfield's public-works department to the unwelcome role of invisible provider, I'd say Moretti and his team definitely have earned some respect.

This article was printed from: http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/col-bakersfield-california-homeless-freeway-litter.html

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CITY OF BAKERSFIELD

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

MEMORANDUM

TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager

FROM: Raul Rojas, Public Works Director

DATE: August 2, 2013

SUBJECT: Design of Oak and California Intersection

Referral No. 408

Staff is currently working with the Bakersfield Police Department to compile the

necessary information to respond to this request. Staff should have an updated

response within a few weeks.

Councilmember Maxwell requested that staff look at the design of the intersection of

Oak Street and California Avenue to determine why there are so many accidents,

and prepare a report. He also asked that staff looking at the traffic signal lighting

system to determine what can be done to reduce the confusion drivers’ experience.

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CITY OF BAKERSFIELD

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

MEMORANDUM

TO: Alan Tandy, City Manager

FROM: Raul Rojas, Public Works Director

DATE: July 31, 2013

SUBJECT: Signal Timing on 24th Street

Referral No. 409

During the summer of 2011, Caltrans relinquished 23rd Street between B Street and M

Street, and 24th Street from Oak Street to M Street to the City of Bakersfield. However,

the traffic signals are still running on Caltrans signal controller software, coordination

timing plans, and Caltrans traffic signal equipment. The signals at 23rd/M Street and

24th/M Street will remain under Caltrans control since they connect to Highway 178.

Public Works applied and received Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds for a

signal communication project for the fiscal year 13-14. The project will install fiber cable

between the signals, install City compatible signal controllers, modems, and software.

This will allow the signals to be monitored and changes made to the timing from a

central location (City’s Traffic Center). Public Works has already made some minor

changes to the timing. After the project improvements, these corridors through

downtown Bakersfield will be studied and retimed for better signal coordination.

For the immediate future the signals west of Oak Street, from Buck Owens Blvd to

Mohawk, are to remain under Caltrans control. This tends to be the more congested

area and overwhelms the signal timing. The widening project in this area will improve

the traffic flow by getting more capacity through the intersections. This segment will be

reviewed by Caltrans once the widening improvements have been made.

Councilmember Maxwell requested that staff review the traffic signals on 24th Street,

from M to F Streets and from Oak to Mohawk Streets, to improve the coordination, in

relation to the EIR for the 24th Street Widening Project.

BAKERSFIELD POLICE

MEMORANDUM

TO: ALAN TANDY, CITY MANAGER FROM: GREG WILLIAMSON, CHIEF OF POLICE DATE: July 30, 2013 SUBJECT: Recurrent Property Violations Council Referral No. 407

Councilmember Maxwell requested that staff put a plan together to help people in the area of the Carpet Cave eliminate the recurrent problem of property violations, and to reduce the spread of those violations into other areas of the City.

On Monday, July 22, 2013, staff from the Joint Vice Task Force responded to Carpet Cave at 101 West Sumner and spoke with the manager, who is concerned about prostitution activity occurring in the area, and specifically in the south alley. In addition, the Operations Division conducted extra patrols in this area between July 19th and July 22nd, and members of the Task Force conducted surveillance in the 100 block of West Sumner, including the south alley from July 22nd through July 25th during the daytime, afternoon and evening hours. While there was no criminal activity observed during this time, several options were discussed with the manager to help deter the activity, including installation of surveillance type cameras, posting signs indicating the area is under surveillance, and installing flood lights with motion sensors. Please feel free to call if you have any questions. GSW/DB/vrf

Week of Aug 5_2013_Work Schedule

Page 1 of 2

STREETS DIVISION – WORK SCHEDULE

Week of Aug. 5, 2013 – Aug. 9, 2013 Resurfacing/Reconstructing streets in the following areas: Grind & Pave Stockdale Hwy between Gosford & Old River Reconstructing streets north of White Ln and west of Akers Preparing Westwold from Gosford to El Portal for reconstruction Sealing streets in the area west of Union Ave and North of California Ave Blade sealing various streets in the area between Palm St and Brundage Ln from Oak St to Oleander Blade sealing various streets in the area between Beale Ave and Baker St from Niles St to Flower St Miscellaneous Streets Division projects:

Video inspection of City owned Sewer & Storm lines to evaluate condition of pipes Miscellaneous concrete repairs throughout the city Building temporary parking lot at north end of Sports Village phase 2 using asphalt grindings Concrete work in the area north of Flower St and east of Alta Vista in preparation for street reconstruction / resurfacing (HUD funded area) Miscellaneous sewer repairs found during video inspection. Note one on west bound 24th street between “M” St & “K” St Grading site at Sister City phase B for concrete work Concrete work on various streets in the area south of E. California Ave and west of MLK Blvd in preparation for street reconstruction / resurfacing (HUD funded area) Working with San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company to repair crossing on So. “H” St installing concrete panels starting on Saturday Aug 10th which we will have to detours traffic on Saturday & Sunday opening up the road for traffic Monday with asphalt work being done by city crews August 12 thru August 15th one lane at a time

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Week of Aug 5_2013_Work Schedule

Page 2 of 2 STREETS SWEEPING SCHEDULE

Monday, Aug. 5, 2013 Between Golden State & 16th St. -- “F” St. & Oak St. /kern River Boundary

Between 34th St. & 30th St. – Chester Ave. & San Dimas St.

Between San Dimas St. & Beale Ave. – 34th/Bernard St. & Niles St.

Between Olive Dr. & Riverlakes Dr. (ext.) – Riverlakes Dr. & Coffee Rd. Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013 Between California Ave. & Brundage Ln. – Oak St. & Union Ave.

Between Renfro Rd. & Jenkins Rd. – Stockdale Hwy. & Kern River Boundary. Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013 Between Panorama Dr. & Bernard St. -- Union Ave. & Loma Linda Dr.

Between River Blvd. & E. Columbus St. – Panorama Dr. & Columbus St. Between College Ave. & Azalea Ave. – Mountain Dr. & Raval St. Between Ming Ave. & White Ln. – Allen Rd. & Buena Vista Rd. Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013 Between Carr St. & California Ave. – Mohawk St. & Stockdale Hwy.

Between Stockdale Hwy. & Marella Wy. – California Ave. & Montclair St.

Between La Mirada Dr. & Chester Ln. – Montclair St. & No. Stine Rd.

Between California Ave. (ext.) & Stockdale Hwy. – No. Stine Rd. & 99 Hwy.

Between Stockdale Hwy. & Ming Ave. – New Stine Rd. & Ashe Rd.

Between Mountain Ridge Dr. & Ashe Rd. – Taft Hwy. & Berkshire Rd. Friday, Aug. 9, 2013 Between Ming Ave. & White Ln. – Buena Vista Rd & Old River Rd.

Between Stine Rd. & 99 Hwy. – Ming Avenue & Adidas.

Between Panama Ln. & Birkshire Rd. – Gosford Rd. & Stine Rd. NOTE: If raining, there will be no street sweeping service and all street cleaning personnel will be assigned to cleaning plugged drains and part circle culverts. This also applies when a large number of street sweeper are in Fleet for repairs. Areas that have been missed during this time will be swept at the end of the month.