Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_08.22.08 - Index

New downtown
restaurant gets
$300K incentive
For more than a decade, city officials
have been hoping and waiting
for a destination-type restaurant to
open in the historic Rivertown area.
As an incentive, six years ago they
set up a $500,000 fund to be doled
out to new restaurants planning to
open in the downtown area.
But until last week, no restaurateurs
had taken up the city on its
offer of free money. The City Council
authorized giving $300,000 from
that redevelopment fund to Bases
Loaded Restaurant and Bar, which
is planned to open at Fourth and
G streets later this year, possibly in
mid-November.
“Bringing a destination restaurant
to the downtown has been
a goal of the agency for the past
your hometown weeKLy newspaper
Vol. 8, No. 34 Antioch, California www.antiochpress.com August 22, 2008
City goes to bat for Bases Loaded
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
decade,” Economic Development
Director Guy Bjerke told the council
on Aug. 12. “We believe this is a
significant investment in the community.”
The long-awaited restaurant
received tentative incentive funding
of $250,000 from the city four years
ago. “It’s been a long road,” restaurant
owner Terry Karp told the
council. “We finally have a building
there. I’m excited about that because
I’ve waited so long. We want
to bring people into the downtown
and make it a vibrant, pedestrianfriendly
destination.”
Also excited is Devi Lanphere,
CEO and president of the
Antioch Chamber of Commerce,
located across the street from the
restaurant. She sees the new establishment
as a spark that could help
ignite the nightlife scene downtown,
noting that it will be a place people
can go before and after a show at
the El Campanil Theatre, just a
couple blocks away at Second and
G streets.
see Bases Loaded page 21A
Photo by Dave Roberts
Terry Karp, on the right, and his mother Mary are planning to
open Bases Loaded Restaurant and Bar at Fourth and G streets in
downtown Antioch later this year. With them are the construction
managers Robert Zamora, on the left, and Dan Zamora.
Conservation plan gets underway
Photo by Dave Roberts
A conservation plan is being launched that’s designed to keep
the Delta ecosystem healthy for fish and recreation while also
providing water for people and farms.
by Dave Roberts
Staff Writer
A study to save the Delta’s ecosystem
while still providing water to
25 million Californians and 3 million
acres of farmland is about to
kick into high gear, a process that
could eventually lead to construction
of a peripheral canal.
The Bay Delta Conservation
Plan (BDCP) is the latest attempt to
find the best compromise between
thirsty water agencies seeking an
abundant, quality water supply and
environmental groups and others
seeking to ensure the health of a
fragile, troubled Delta ecosystem.
The plan might call for the construction
of a peripheral canal that
takes fresh water from the Sacramento
River in the north Delta and
conveys it south along the east side
of the Delta. That possibility worries
local officials, who fear it would
lead to a worsening of water quality,
including an increase in salinity.
The first step in putting together
the plan is the preparation of environmental
impact studies that will
identify the most environmentally
friendly option or options. Officials
from the California Department of
Water Resources (DWR) traveled
to Antioch last week to meet with
Delta landowners to let them know
that they might be seeking permission
to go onto their land to conduct
some of the studies beginning
in early 2009.
DWR Deputy Director Richard
Sanchez kicked off the Aug.
14 meeting in the flower hall at the
county fairgrounds, which was as
steamy as a greenhouse.
“We are here to work with
you,” he said. “We are very concerned
with the Delta. There’s various
issues: whether it’s water supply
reliability, ecosystem restoration;
fishery counts are down; flood protection
is an issue. We are here to
work with you on solutions.
“We have a lot of study areas
we are looking at. There’s also a lot
of gaps. We have to fill those gaps
with additional information, whether
biological, engineering, surveying.
We want to minimize those
impacts (to your property) when we
get that data. We are open to your
suggestions.”
see Delta page 21A
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This Week
Tackling the
tough stuff
Two teachers were alarmed by
a trend in minority students’
performance and decided to
do something about it.
Page 6A
Citizens
sound off
Want to know what your
neighbors think about the
issues? Check out our Op-Ed
section.
Page 16A
Vindicated
by a pin
He’s wrestled with all-star
status and come up short. That
monkey is now off his back.
Page 1B
inside
Calendar ........................19B
Classifieds ......................12B
Community .................... 3A
Education ....................... 6A
Entertainment ................9B
Food ..............................10B
Health & Beauty............. 7B
Opinion ........................16A
Outdoors ......................18A
Public Notices ..................8B
Siren Sounds ................17A
Sports ...............................1B