My Vision & Plan – H.O.P.E. for Antioch
By Allen Payton
9/15/08

My vision for Antioch is one of a safer community, with more police; better roads and a completed transportation system for an easier commute; more local, well-paying jobs so moms and dads can spend less time commuting and more time with their kids and serving the community; an improved education system with safer schools and a four-year private college in town; a green-clean business and education technology center, as well as a deep water port facility, for well-paying, local jobs; and a revitalized Rivertown, Antioch’s historic downtown.
As is written in the City’s Vision Statement, hanging in the City Council Chambers, which we adopted in 1996, I want Antioch to be “A community that provides an opportunity to live, learn, work, worship, and play in a safe, stimulating and diverse community.”
To help fulfill that vision, I have a plan, called H.O.P.E. for Antioch, which stands for Highways, Opportunity, Protection & Education.

HIGHWAYS

• Complete Highway 4 widening to Hillcrest – no more delays
• Complete the Highway 4 Bypass with two additional lanes between Lone Tree Way and Balfour, the connectors to and from the bridge, and obtain the needed state matching funds, as was originally planned.
  
• Bring transit to Antioch and all of East County – including rail and ferry service
  
• Repair local streets in a timely manner, especially Somersville Road, between James Donlon and Buchanan.
  
• Obtain the funds for grade separations at Hillcrest, A Street and Auto Center Drive to accommodate the increase in train traffic on Union Pacific’s Mococo rail line.
  
• Build Route 239, which I call the “Backdoor to Highway 4” from the end of the Bypass to I-5/205 in Tracy to open up East County to the rest of the state.

OPPORTUNITY

• B.R.E.A.D. Plan for Business Retention, Expansion, Attraction & Development – well-paying jobs and a job for everyone in Antioch. We must keep the businesses we have, help them expand, attract new ones to town and allow for the development of home-based and home-grown businesses.
  
• Create the Northern California Green, Clean Technology Business & Education Center, working with U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Cal State East Bay.
  
• Annex industrial land along the waterfront on the Northeast side of town and develop a deep water port facility to take advantage of the shipping.
  
• Work with the U.P. Railroad company to develop businesses in town along the Mococo line which will soon be reactivated, to take advantage of the increased rail traffic.
  
• Establish a Foreign Trade Zone or subzone – working with the Bay Area World Trade Center, the Bay Area Center for International Trade & Development, the California International Trade Program, the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.
  
• More Sister Cities – establish relationships with other countries, such as China, Korea, Singapore, India, Mexico & other Latin American countries, Ireland, African countries, Israel, Jordan, Australia, France and Germany for both trade and friendship.
  
• Create a Task Force for each economic focus area, with each Economic Development Commission member serving as a liaison and/or chairman, such as the Rivertown Task Force, Annexation Task Force, Green &
• Clean Technology Center Task Force, Convention Center Task Force, Railroad Task Force, etc.
  
• Rivertown Revitalization – We need to get back to the Waterfront Plan developed in the 1980’s to improve Antioch’s historic downtown with private sector investment.
  
• Friday Night Live. We should take the unused half of the funds from the Downtown Restaurant Incentive Program and spend them on advertising downtown, matching business contributions dollar for dollar for two years, as well as fund one employee for five hours every Friday night for 30 of the downtown shops, for two years, so they will stay open and help create a safe, night life for Rivertown.
  
• I propose a variety of activities to promote Rivertown, including Black Diamond Days, to replace the Rivertown Jamboree; a Rivertown Film Festival working with Oscar winner Michael Semanick and Scott Birmingham; as well as Rivertown Races including a Rivertown Regatta sailboat race, the Rivertown Run with 1-mile, 5k & 10k races, plus bicycle, wheelchair, skateboard and rollerblade races, called the Rivertown Roll.
  
• We must get back to the Economic Development Plan developed in 1996 by 100 community leaders, and implement it, as well as the City’s Waterfront Plan developed in the 1980’s.
  
• The first thing I propose is renaming A and 2nd Streets to Rivertown Drive, and L Street to Marina Blvd. That way when people are driving down the freeway, they see the signs promoting Rivertown, the marina and our historic downtown. It’s a simple, low cost advertising and should have been done 10 years ago.
  
• In addition, I envision a boardwalk, called “Smith’s Landing” after the original name of the town, similar to Pier 39, with shops, entertainment, dining, plus a covered berth marina, for larger boats at G Street.
  
• Finally, we need to redevelop Tommy’s Harbor, turn Rodger’s Point into a park, as planned, and keep the old boat ramp, even after the new boat ramp is built.
  
• East County Convention Center and hotel to be located at the Hillcrest eBART station area or on the land north of the Slatten Ranch shopping center, for major events.
  
• ACES – Antioch Career Entrepreneurial & Employment Services - Job placement, temp agency, entrepreneurial training, providing microloans to help people start businesses, working with Antioch-based Opportunity Junction for job skills training/retraining to help people back into the work force.
  
• Antioch YES – Youth Employment Services – for after school and summer time job and internship placement for our teenagers. Working with the City and Chamber of Commerce.

PROTECTION

• Reprioritize city spending to hire more police
  
• COPs – Citizens on Patrol, a new division of the Volunteers In Police Service, VIPS program to provide additional presence in the neighborhoods. COPs would report, but not respond.
  
• Return to Community Policing, with police on beats in focused, higher crime areas.
  
• Create a dedicated funding source for police, such as using a portion of new sales and property tax revenues from new economic development areas – downtown, deep water port, green, clean industry area, Hillcrest eBART station area, etc.
  
• Protect our wallets with Less Wasteful Spending and No Tax Increases without Voter Approval

EDUCATION

• I’m committed to working with the Antioch School Board to ensure campus safety, as well as improving overall education. Raise the expectations that all our students will graduate from high school and college with a bachelor’s degree.
  
• A new library at Prewett Park, inside the community center. Work with the County to fund the operations.
  
• Antioch Christian College – bring a 4-year private college with courses in business, including entrepreneurial studies, education, government, journalism, engineering, environmental studies, technology (see green technology center proposal, above) and religion to prepare our students for the careers of the future.
  
• ACE – Antioch Champions in Education, Mayor’s award for students, teachers, staff and supporters
  
• AMPS – Antioch Mentoring Program for Success – expanding on the efforts of 4AC’s after school program for middle and high school students.

OTHER IDEAS
We need something for everyone, so that anyone of any age can participate, have fun, compete and win a prize. We’ll ask the various clubs, organizations and youth groups in town to help out and benefit, as well.

• Master Annual Calendar of Events & Activities for better coordination among the organizations in town, and East County.
  
• Mayor’s Cup Tournaments – in addition to the annual golf tournament, we can have tennis, bowling, 3-on-3 basketball, soccer, softball, chess, a spelling bee and more.
  
• Mayor’s Physical Fitness award for all ages, to help promote healthy living, working with the local health clubs in town.
  Bring an Amateur Athletic Union track team, to town and tie in with the Olympics efforts in the Bay Area.
  An annual ‘101 Things To Do in Antioch’ contest, which would highlight all the activities, as well as places to go and eat in town.
  
• ARC – Antioch Rescue Center – homeless shelter, and giving people basic jobs like yard maintenance, home repair, street cleaning, litter removal, graffiti removal – working with existing programs, like the Community Outreach Center and Bay Area
• Rescue Mission, to help “the least of these.”
  An amphitheater in the hills South of Kaiser on Deer Valley Road for concerts, outdoor plays and other events.