ANNUAL STATE-OF-THE-CITY REVIEW WITH SUE SEVERSON
It was a full house at the Orinda Community Center as Rotary welcomed mayor Sue Severson, Councilmember Victoria Smith, County Supervisor Candace Anderson, and Justin Barber (representing State Senator Mark DeSaulinier) to our annual State-of-the City luncheon.
Preseident Sue welcomed everyone and introduced Sylvia Jorgensen and Candace Kattenburg, President and Executive Director of the Orinda Chamber of Commerce, who presented Rotarian Cyndi Girgis with their "Businessperson of the Year" award. Supervisor Anderson and Mr. Barber each honored Cyndi with a certificate of recognition from the county and state, respectively, thanking Cyndi for her years of service to our community. Cyndi has lived in Orinda for 37 years and opened Hilton House in the year 2000 after realizing there was a need here for an upscale consignment store featuring name-brand furnishings, home decor and accessories, as well as vintage estate jewelry. Her business thrives thanks to her personalized service and a dedicated staff that includes: Dee, Rita, Jan, Kesha and Cory.
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President Sue then introduced Mayor Severson, who took a moment to recognize her fellow elected officials (previously mentioned), as well as OUSD dignataries, Superintendent Joe Jaconette, former Superintendent Frank Brunetti and board member Tyson Krumholtz. She then briefly turned the program over to Steve Harwood, who introduced 2014 Lamorinda Idol runner-up and Miramonte student, Eleanor Roder, to sing the uplifting "We're All in This Together." She had us all on our feet and singing along -- a perfect mood setter for Mayor Severson's presentation.
Highlights from the past year included Orinda's ranking as the 2nd "Friendliest City in America" by Forbes magazine, the beginning of construction at the new Eden Senior Housing Project and Orinda Grove, continued growth at the Wilder development, as well as the opening of the long-awaited Manzanita bridge replacement.
The Eden Housing Project will include 67 units for which there are already over 700 applicants--152 of whom are Lamorindans. Pulte's Orinda Grove is well underway with a planned 73 homes (8 below market rate), new ball fields and a new Orinda Union School District office. Wilder has five homes occupied, with an additional five under construction and 20 more to be completed by year-end. Three out of five of the community ball fields are also in use at Wilder.
Additional accomplishments during 2013 include the completion of the City's 4th cycle housing element, the Home Alone Home Aide project, implementation of Nixle -- Orinda Police Department's real-time crime reporting system, an IT update that now enables live streaming of City Council meetings and the Orinda Outlook e-newsletter, as well as the placement of public artwork in south Orinda.
Challenges continue to include road and storm drain repairs. The Road Repair Selection Committee has prioritized roads that will use available funds from Measure L for repairs, but these dollars are nowhere near what is needed to make significant inroads in repairing what have been described as the "worst roads in the county." Public polling revealed 70 percent of those queried support a bond measure to help finance the needed repairs. The result is Meausure J, a $20 million dollar, 20-year bond measure that will appear on the June ballot.
Crime statistics show an increase in home burglaries and car thefts, so public safety is also an area that new Police Chief Mark Nagle will need to address. Communications, too, continue to be an important facet of city governance and Mayor Severson will be implementing monthly brown-bag lunch gatherings to encourage citizen input.
Diligent fiscal management is always a requirement in Orinda, which operates on a very tight shoestring budget of $11.5 million. A synopsis of the City's budget is available here.
Mayor Severson concluded by showing a short video about how much we can learn from geese, a truly cooperative species. She encouraged us all to work together to make our community the best it can be.