Antioch Council Review: eBart Extension, Homeless Problem, and Mello Roos Tax Elections

Amidst the first major Antioch storm of the season the Antioch City Council gathered to discuss community issues. Rain, clouds, or shine the Council strives to lead the community no matter what. Some of the major issues discussed at this last council meeting included issues from the homeless all the way to new bus technology.

Antioch City Council Recap – October 13th, 2009

Council member Moore commented on the fact that the homeless living in Antioch need bathroom facilities at night. The comment comes amidst fierce community dialogue pitting a City on either sides of this issue. On the one hand locking public bathroom facilities will likely lead to public defecation by Antioch’s homeless. Some argue that it would be better to have adequate bathroom facilities for the homeless, than allowing the homeless to create health hazards.

On the other side of the homeless issue is the growing community anger towards the City for allowing these individuals to live in Antioch. The City is stuck in a catch-22, if they actively seek to furnish the homeless with bathroom facilities they risk public anger for encouraging the homeless lifestyle. However, refusing the homeless adequate bathroom facilities will lead to unhealthy community conditions.

The solution? One solution that has been used by some major metropolitan areas is outlined by shipping the homeless away. If the City would take all the money it spends on debating the homeless issue, cleaning up public defecations, and homeless outreach programs and use it to get rid of the homeless the problem might be solved.

The City could introduce a program that would pay the homeless ‘X’ amount of money (including a one way bus/air pass) to leave the City. Considering that some of the other major metropolitan areas actually refused the government’s recent stimulus package; they could use a healthy dose of homeless people.

One local area resident said, “If the homeless break the law by urinating in public they should be sent to prison. If they continue to break the law they should be shipped to the Mexico border to work building a America-Mexico MASSIVE wall to keep illegal immigrants out of the country”.

Another major topic covered by yesterday’s City Council meeting included an advertisement for the recent vacancy on the Mello-Roos Tax Board. Mello-Roos is a special tax that the city levies onto certain community developments. The tax is attached to a specific property until the defined City imposed lien has been paid off. Revenue taxes from the Mello-Roos go towards paying for community services.

Council member Moore mentioned that around October of 2010 the City is to implement a ‘AVL’ bus system. The new system will allow for text versions of up to the minute bus arrival times.

In related transportation news BART member Joel Keller said that the eBart system is financially back on track. “eBart is essentially fully funded…eBart will continue to move forward. We expect that if highway 4 is completed to Hillcrest by 2015 BART should be operating out to Hillcrest by that time”, Keller Said.