Veterans Day Bonus: Listen to the Stories of City's Veterans Courtesy of Martinez Oral History Project
Also, school board to discuss placing parcel tax renewal measure on March ballot; City Council to hold study session on creating its own Industrial Safety Ordinance in wake of refinery incidents
Happy Veterans Day to all Martinez residents who served in uniform. As a special Martinez News and Views bonus, I asked Jane Moore of the Martinez Oral History Project to provide names and videos of some of the Martinez veterans who have been interviewed over the years as part of the project.
YouTube interviews of the following veterans can be accessed at the project website at www.martinezoralhistory.org by scrolling through the alphabetic list of interview subjects on the home page. Readers can also access the videos by clicking on each vet’s name below:
Sante Cerri: WWII (Italian Army)
Mike Keppel, one of the Martinez veterans interviewed as part of the Martinez Oral History Project
Moore also wanted me to share that the World War II albums of Martinez veterans will be on display at the Martinez History Museum on Saturday for Veterans Day. “His dedication and research to that project was a true labor of love,” Moore said. The museum at 1005 Escobar Street is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The annual Martinez Veterans Day ceremony begins at 10 a.m. with a short flag raising at Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery, followed by the full ceremony at 11 a.m. at Ignacio Plaza in front of City Hall.
Thanks to all veterans in Martinez and elsewhere for their service and sacrifices, and best wishes on your special day.
For those not familiar with the Martinez Oral History Project, here’s a summary that Moore provided:
The Martinez Oral History Project originated in the fall of 2006. The goal of this small group of volunteers working in cooperation with the Martinez Historical Society has been, and continues to be, collection and documentation of the memories of Martinez citizens. Through the Project's video interviews, it is memorializing the important life stories of many of our fellow Martinez citizens who have lived in or near Martinez for all or most of their lives. Our friends' stories are helping us to understand and interpret the rich cultural and ethnic landscape of the Martinez area, thereby insuring that these stories will not be lost.
The project can be reached at can be reached at mtz.oralhistoryproject@gmail.com
MUSD school board preview
Among the items that the Martinez Unified School District Board of Trustees will take up at Monday’s board meeting is a draft resolution for a ballot measure in March to extend the district’s $75-a-year parcel tax, which expires next June. If approved by at least two-thirds of district voters, the proposed measure would extend the tax for at least eight years, beginning on July 1 of next year. According to the draft resolution, funds raised by the tax extension would be used to:
fund academic programs in science, technology, engineering, math, reading and writing;
attract and retain qualified teachers and student counselors;
fund educational programs that provide college and career pathways;
fund classroom technology equipment, fixtures and infrastructure;
fund art, music and band programs, science labs and library services
Also on Monday, the MUSD board, as part of its consent calendar for contract approvals and other routine items, is scheduled to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sandy Hook Promise Foundation to use the foundation’s National Crisis Center during a nine-month pilot period to scan the district’s student email system and alert the district to any “potentially harmful language.” The program will be funded by Sandy Hook Promise at no cost to the district.
Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, a nonprofit created in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, partners with school districts across the country on programs to identify and prevent threats to school safety and potential acts of violence. MUSD became the first district in Contra Costa County to partner with Sandy Hook Promise in 2018.
The board meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at the district offices at 921 Susana St., will also feature recognition of the Alhambra High School Auto Shop and Martinez Junior High’s fall athletics programs. The full agenda can be viewed at the following link: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030321&MID=25583&Tab=Agenda
City Council study session on ISO
The City Council will hold a study session on Wednesday, prior to its regularly scheduled meeting, on the possibility of adopting its own Industrial Safety Ordinance (ISO) governing industrial facilities within city limits.
The Contra Costa County ISO governs facilities, including the Martinez Refining Co., located in unincorporated areas. The only other city in Contra Costa County with its own ISO is Richmond, home to the Chevron refinery.
Mayor Brianne Zorn first floated the idea of Martinez exploring its own ISO following MRC’s spent catalyst release last Nov. 24-25 that created widespread community alarm, exacerbated by the refinery’s failure to activate the county Community Warning System.
According to the city staff report for Wednesday’s study session:
The November 2022 spent catalyst incident at MRC (which is almost entirely within unincorporated County territory) and subsequent incidents thereafter have highlighted the value in having an ISO – and the protections it can afford the community both in preventing accidents and also in helping shape appropriate corrective action should a subject incident occur.
The county exercised the provisions of its ISO to order independent investigations into aspects of MRC’s spent catalyst accident (though not the CWS failure, which remains under investigation by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office), as well as its overall safety culture following other incidents in the months since.
Facilities within city limits that would be covered under a Martinez ISO are ECO Services Inc. (100 Mococo Road) and Shell Catalyst & Technologies (10 Mococo Road). Bulk Liquid Storage Stationary Sources (BLSSS) also could be potentially included, though, according to the staff report, the county is already considering an amendment to its own ISO that would cover them. TransMontaigne Operating Co. (2801 Waterfront Road), a petroleum storage terminal, could also potentially be included in a Martinez ISO, according to the staff report, which adds: “The xity is just beginning conversations with all these operators about a possible Industrial Safety Ordinance.”
Wednesday’s study session begins at 6 p.m. at the Council Chamber and on Zoom. The agenda, including instructions on accessing it remotely, can be found here: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/martinez/11758c3232b722eea7537bd308bd5db00.pdf
Council members ask for more teeth in code enforcement
During a study session Nov. 1 on the city’s code enforcement ordinances, the four council members in attendance (Mark Ross was absent) directed city staff to draw up amendments that would further specify the conditions that constitute a property nuisance, and would allow the city to potentially “withhold issuance of licenses, permits and other entitlements to a responsible party on any project, property or application of any kind until the nuisance is corrected.” The council members were less enthusiastic about a staff proposal to increase administrative citation amounts but also generally favored removing the Planning Commission from the nuisance abatement procedure to streamline such proceedings.
The review was prompted by comments “from residents whose neighborhoods are impacted by code violations, property nuisances and vacant, fire-damaged properties,” according to the staff report accompanying the meeting agenda.
City Manager Michael Chandler said his staff would craft a proposal for changes to the code enforcement ordinances that the council will consider at a future meeting.
City proclamations highlight DEI efforts
The city’s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has taken on heightened focus in recent years, something seen in proclamations at City Council meetings this month. At the council’s Nov. 1 meeting, it adopted proclamations recognizing Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month (noting Satinder Malhi’s appointment earlier this years as the first Sikh-American City Council member in the city’s nearly 150-year history) and Native American History Month (noting the many tribes who lived in this region for thousands of years). At Wednesday’s regular meeting, the council will adopt a proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance, which notes that the city “benefits from the diversity of its population and seeks to promote inclusion of all people as a testament to the shared values of dignity, equity and fair treatment for everyone without regard to gender identity or expression.”
The full agenda for the council’s regular meeting Wednesday can be viewed here: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/martinez/bc4ad087af1b5a6d752b35393cfa35cf0.pdf