Bay Area

Supes ‘Excited’ About Proposed Workforce Housing For Teachers, County Employees

The workforce housing would have a few requirements for hopeful renters, including a lottery to parcel out the tenancies. Renters must be low- to moderate-income by Marin County standards, which isn’t a hard category to fall into for teachers or some county employees. Also, the tenants must agree to a five- to 10-year stay and, should they become separated from their job, they have six months to move out.

Published

3 years ago

September 28, 2022

Oakland Post

Supervisor Damon Connolly

By Katy St. Clair, Bay City News Foundation

The perennial issue of affordable housing in Marin County went before the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 13 as they heard a presentation about a possible housing development in unincorporated San Quentin, part of which would be workforce housing reserved for local teachers and county staff.

So-called affordable “workforce housing” is an idea Marin has been grappling with for a long time, but an idea which supervisors say is now past due. The county is having problems retaining and filling jobs in schools and at the county level, according to Supervisor Damon Connolly, who spoke about it at the meeting.

Connolly said that there are currently 300 unfilled positions in county schools, and a lack of affordable housing is a leading reason for the shortage.

“The cost of living is simply too high,” he said, adding that these employees spend roughly half of their income on rent.

The Oak Hill affordable housing project proposed to be built in San Quentin Village would create 250 units, 135 for low- to moderate-income families and teachers (75%) and some county employees (25%).

The county is seeking a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) between the county, the Marin County Office of Education, and the developer, Education Housing Partners (EHP). The JPA would help EHP get tax-exempt financing.

San Quentin is of course most known for its state prison, but the area surrounding the facility, also known as San Quentin Village, currently has about 40 single-family homes and one condominium. It also has sweeping views of the Bay.

Oak Hill would be built on the north side of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on the 8-acre site of an old firing range, according to EHP. The units would range in size from 800 to 1,300 square feet. Once built, the developer said it would begin discussions with nearby Larkspur to provide services for residents.

In a staff report presented to the supervisors in preparation for Tuesday’s discussion, the county said that approving the JPA and its ensuing housing project would be a positive equity move because many of the people who would get the housing are “more racially and ethnically diverse” than the rest of the county.

Also, there would be minimal fiscal impact on the county because costs would be covered and managed by the JPA, not Marin County. Rents at Oak Hill would be less than market rate with the help of state-donated land, grants, charitable contributions and tax-exempt financing.

The project will come back to the board at the end of the year for formal approval and if all goes to plan, people will be able to move into their new homes by the end of 2025.

All the supervisors who spoke at the meeting used the word “exciting” to describe the project.

Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters said she hoped this development would stand as a model that could be replicated throughout the county.

Supervisor Katie Rice concurred.

“It’s something to build on,” she said. “No pun intended.”

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.